Nearly 23,000 voters across Alabama opted to write in their own candidates in the Dec. 12 U.S. Senate special election that pitted Democrat Doug Jones against Republican Roy Moore.

On Thursday, the state certified the election results as well as Jones’ victory over Moore, who had not conceded his defeat. The final margin of Jones' victory was about 22,000 votes.

In Tuscaloosa County, more than 1,007 ballots were cast for write-in candidates, making up 1.9 percent of the total vote in the area. Jones beat Moore by nearly 16 percent in Tuscaloosa County, garnering 57.2 percent of the vote to Moore’s 41 percent.

Across Tuscaloosa County, write-in voters chose other residents, politicians and fictitious characters in the Senate race.

Former Marine and sculptor Lee Busby received the most write-in votes in Tuscaloosa County with 462 votes. Busby, a Tuscaloosa resident, announced his write-in campaign two weeks before the special election.

"I’m very grateful that I got to be part of what was a very historic election in Alabama," Busby said.

Outgoing U.S. Sen. Luther Strange received 209 votes, the second highest number of write-in votes in the county. Strange was defeated by Moore during the Republican primary. U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who ran for the Senate seat against Strange and Moore, received 36 write-in votes. Jeff Sessions, who vacated his Senate seat to become U.S. attorney general, received 21 votes.

University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban was among the most notable people to receive write-in votes across Tuscaloosa County with 43 votes. A number of cartoon characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck and Elmer Fudd, received one vote each, while Jesus Christ received four votes. Made-up names like "Dr. Taco Bell" and "My German Shepherd" each received one vote.

One write-in vote symbolized what many like Busby thought: "Is This The Best We Can Do?" Moore was accused of sexual misconduct and Alabama had not elected a Democrat for the U.S. Senate since 1992.

"I’ve said before that personally, I could not cast a vote for either choice to represent Alabama in the Senate," Busby said.

Like Busby, there were others across the state who launched their own write-in campaigns. Ron Bishop, who ran on the Libertarian ticket, received 32 votes, while candidate Mac Watson received two votes.

Secretary of State John Merrill pointed to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, the longest serving senator from Alabama, as having an effect on encouraging write-in votes when he declared that he would not vote for either Moore or Jones, but would vote for "a distinguished Republican write-in." Shelby is registered to vote in Tuscaloosa.

Merrill said he understood that many of the write-in votes were done as a protest, but he believes the overwhelming number of write-in candidates made it more difficult for local governments to tabulate their election results.

"It’s a frustration when you’re doing it as a protest rather than when you’re doing it for a candidate of choice to advance their candidacy," said Merrill, a former state legislator from Tuscaloosa County.

Statewide, 22,852 votes were cast for write-in candidates.

Merrill said that write-ins likely took votes away from both Moore and Jones and there was no evidence to show that the write-in candidates tipped the election in Jones' favor. On Twitter after the election, President Donald Trump said that the write-in votes had an effect on the outcome of the Alabama U.S. Senate race.

"I don’t know if we hadn’t had the write-in if it would have affected the result, but you would assume there would have been some difference, but to speculate that would have cost the election for Moore … you can’t say that because you have no empirical data to back it up," he said.

Busby said he had mixed feelings about Jones’ election, but that he will wait to see how he does.

"We have two years to see how he does and we’ll put it back to the test," he said.

If anything, Busby hopes that in the future, the write-in vote will be used as a way to give people an alternative to the two primary party candidates.

"If you give people choices and candidates that resonate and inspire, the politics will take care of itself," he said.

In addition, different people with connections to Tuscaloosa were also included in the write-in ballots. Former Tuscaloosa mayor Al DuPont and city councilman Kip Tyner both received one vote each. Merrill, who previously served as the spokesman for the Tuscaloosa County School System before becoming secretary of state, received 11 votes. State Rep. Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, received three votes, while Condoleeza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state whose father briefly served as the dean at Stillman College, also received three votes.

Other notable people to receive write-in votes in Tuscaloosa County include former Gov. Robert Bentley (one), Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox (five), Tuscaloosa District Attorney Hays Webb (one), State Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa, (one), ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann (one) and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (nine).

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.