SL County: Write-in votes for Rommey didn't count

In this month's presidential election, President-elect Barack Obama eked out a narrow win over John McCain in Salt Lake County. Write-in votes for Mitt Romney might have made a difference.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says if you voted for Romney Nov. 4, your vote was not counted.

"A lot of people do not realize that write-in candidates do have to file a declaration to be a write-in," she said.

She says Romney did not do that, so votes for him were not added up.

"There were actually 3,718 write-in votes," Swensen said.

Only 20 of those votes were counted for official write-ins. "Sometimes people write in 'Mickey Mouse,' and we don't count those," Swensen added.

If less than 300 of the write-in votes for Romney had been changed to votes for McCain, McCain would have won the vote in Salt Lake County.

E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com

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