Hill County sees write-in votes with varying degrees of humor

The 2020 election saw a blank space in it’s section for Hill County superintendent of schools, and among many seemingly sincere votes for community members and local educators, were some less than serious and often amusing write-in-votes.

County Superintendent of Schools Marie Deegan, along with a couple misspellings of her name, received a plurality of the votes with 96, but said in letter to the Hill County Commission that she has no desire to serve another term.

But among the write-in votes was a number of current and former school administrators and officials, most of whom had at least one apparent misspelling of their name.

Former Havre Public Schools’ Superintendent Andy Carlson received 12 votes, and his temporary successor Interim Superintendent Craig Mueller received at least 45 votes including those cast for at least six misspelling the Havre Daily News was able to find.

Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees Member Tim Scheele also got a vote, along with Havre High School Activity Director Brian Kessler.

University of Montana-Northern Associate Professor of Business Barbara Zuck also received a vote, and Cottonwood School Teacher Monica Mattson got five.

Write-in votes also came in for a number of community members such as Lori Takawira who got 36 votes, and the Havre Daily’s very own George Ferguson got three.

Local officials like Havre Mayor Tim Solomon, City Council Member Karen Swenson, Hill County Sanitarian Clay Vincent, State Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy and Hill County Commissioner-Elect Jacob Strissel all received between one and four votes.

Strissel’s opponent in the race for county commissioner, Mark Wicks, also received a couple of votes.

State and Federal officials also saw a few votes come their way, like President Donald Trump, who received three, and State Superintendent of Education Elsie Arntzen, who got five.

12 votes were cast for “any Republican.”

Among the, presumably, less serious votes were for media figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, comedian and popular podcaster Joe Rogan, musician Kanye West, actress Pamela Anderson and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

A handful of votes went to potential candidates of a less corporeal nature, such as Looney Toons stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

Daffy’s Disney counterpart Donald Duck received a slightly more ringing endorsement with three votes, and his colleague Mickey Mouse got four.

Jesus Christ got a vote as well.