His dyspeptic Disney sidekick "Donald Duck" got a write-in nod last month in Cary -- maybe from the actual voter by that name.

"Scooby-Doo," where are you? Not in this year's vote tally.

But along with the occasional no-nonsense write-in candidates and sentimental favorites -- eight years out of office, Tom Fetzer still gets votes for Raleigh mayor -- election authorities are used to counting the inconsequential choices of voters with a sense of humor or an ax to grind.

This year, "Mickey Mouse" and "Mick E. Mouse" both got votes in local Wake County elections.

In Apex, where Mayor Keith Weatherly was officially unopposed, "Stop Growth" garnered a couple of protest votes.

A perennial favorite nominated again this year: "Anybody But."

Wake officials tallied write-in votes Tuesday as part of their certification of the Nov. 6 local elections. Of 10,198 votes cast, 1,033, or 10 percent, were write-ins.

"We record 'em all," said Cherie Poucher, Wake's elections director. "We've got to have some fun."

Some write-in selections are serious. In elections for Fuquay-Varina commissioner, Morrisville commissioner and Knightdale mayor, organized write-in campaigns netted a total of 658 votes -- but, alas, no victories.

One three-vote-getter for mayor in Apex has Wake election officials stumped: "Oke."

"I have no idea who 'Oke' is," a bemused Poucher confessed.

Could it be the Massachusetts fair-trade banana seller? The obscure skater clothing company? Canadian author Janette Oke? CNN weather anchor Femi Oke?

And the question demanding a a satisfactory if not lyrical answer:

Any relation to Kara?

Or Doke?