Best Write-In Votes of 2012 National Tournament

From Jesus Christ to Ron Paul to Your Mom, thousands of not-on-the-ballot candidates received votes in this year's election. Some of the most creative entries came from Georgia's 10th Congressional District, where evolution-denying doctor Paul Broun faced no Democratic opponent but had to fend-off a write-in challenge from the ghost Charles Darwin.

But with other write-in candidates appearing in districts across the country, the only way to determine the best vote is to pit them against each other in a single-elimination competition as seen above. (Click to embiggen.)

Let's cut to the chase. Based on a completely objective standard of their awesomeness, plus the approximate number of write-in votes they received Ron Paul, Leslie Knope, Charles Darwin and "Better Options, Please" emerged as the winners in their respective divisions of Politicians, Fiction and Religion, In the Name of Science, and Miscellaneous. Knope and Darwin easily trounce their respective opponents in the semifinal round.

But who is the ultimate winner? Democracy. Democracy wins.

(H/T: York Daily Record, Winfield Daily Courier, Daily American Somerset County, Flagpole Magazine, Huffington Post)

Tags: Animals, Georgia, History, Paul Broun, Pennsylvania, Television