Number of Google searches for ‘write-in’ soar

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KRON) — The ugly 2016 campaign season has had some people wishing they had other candidates to vote for.

Now, that’s showing up in what they search for online.

Google trends data is showing that the online searches for the words “write-in” surged over the last week by more than 2,800 percent, according to CNN.

That hit a record high since 2004.

And the states with the highest rates of the search are not even battleground states. They are actually Republican and Democratic strongholds.

As of Wednesday evening, three of the top market searches for “write-in” came in solidly Democratic states: Vermont, Delaware, and New Jersey.

Utah, a reliably red state that no Democrat has won since Lyndon B. Johnson, and Indiana, home to Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence, round out the top five.

Searches for, “Is Bernie Sanders a write-in candidate?” spiked nearly 3,000 percent in the last week while searches for “write-in Mike Pence” were up 2,400 percent in the last week.

With less than a month to go until Election Day, it’s not clear whether there will be continued high interest in write-in candidates or if searches will translate into action at the ballot box.