CHARLOTTE ---- Many voters faced with tough decisions at the polls this year simply chose to write in their own candidate instead, and the results for Mecklenburg County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor may surprise you. Nearly 400 voters chose to write-in a candidate.
"We told people go and vote, and while you're there, write me in," said Charlotte attorney Harrison Lord. "So people got into it and it was fun."
Lord says his run for Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor wasn't his idea. A friend put him on the ballot during early voting.
"He knew nothing about it, didn't know the candidates, and he said rather than vote in an uniformed wa,y he had a solution, and wrote me in," said Lord.
Then, with Lord's permission, he encouraged all their friends on Facebook to do the same with funny pictures and silly slogans. Turns out, Lord was the top write-in candidate for the position with 145 votes.
James Tatro got 83 votes, and Harambe, the gorilla that garnered national attention back in May, came in third with 44. Harambe was shot and killed after a toddler fell into his enclosure at an Ohio zoo.
"I'm glad I beat the deceased gorilla, that's actually very comforting for me," said Lord.
He also beat Carolina Panthers quarterback with Cam Newton, who got 11 write-in votes. Saturday Night Live character "David Pumpkins" got 5.
Lord says it was a rough election seasons and this was a way to bring some levity to it.
"If people are getting out and voting, it's a good thing," he said. "And even if they're getting engaged in more of a light-hearted way, it's good."
Lord did some research about the position just in case he was accidentally elected for the job, but he didn't win.
The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections also plans to release a list of write-in candidates for U.S. President and N.C. Commissioner of Labor.