The vote totals for the June 5 primary in Lee County are now official. The list of candidates receiving votes includes Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds as well as Daffy Duck, Mickey Mouse, and someone named Jim.
The Lee County Auditor’s Office said nearly 600 write-in votes were cast on Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian ballots. Auditor Denise Fraise said the write-in vote total was pretty typical for a primary election.
Leading the way was Ginny Caligiuri (R-Osceola), who was an actual write-in candidate in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. She failed to secure enough signatures in enough counties to make it onto the ballot so she ran a formal write-in campaign.
Her effort netted her 277 votes in Lee County for the Congressional seat. Some voters even liked her enough to vote for her in other races. Caligiuri received at least one write-in vote in 10 other contests including Iowa Governor, Lee County Treasurer, and Iowa House District 83.
Overall, she received 309 write-in votes in Lee County.
There were also some familiar local names receiving write-in votes in various contests
- CPA Ann Menke
- Fort Madison Mayor Brad Randolph
- Assistant Lee County Attorney Bruce McDonald
- Java River Owner Dan Winn
- District Court Judge John Wright
- Main Street Keokuk Director Joyce Glasscock
- Former Lee County Attorney Mike Short
- Former ISU Extension Director Bob Dodds
- Former Keokuk Mayor Tom Marion
- Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack
- Keokuk Attorney Steve Swan
- Lee County K-9 Officer Uriah Wheatley
In addiiton, there were some familiar names to the rest of the nation:
- Donald Duck
- Daffy Duck
- Mickey Mouse
And there were a few names that the voter didn’t quite finish at the ballot box.
- Jim
- Jones
- Santiago
- Wright
- Sugars
- Fitzgerald
- Booten
The Lee County Auditor’s Office said more than 100 people received write-in votes and that none of the contests were close enough for the write-in votes to have made a difference.
