Around twice as many votes were rejected in the second round of the presidential election, compared to the first round.
Nearly 9,100 ballots were thrown out in the first round, but officials rejected more than 20,000 in the second and final round, which wrapped up on Sunday night with Alexander Stubb beating his rival Pekka Haavisto.
In Central Finland, the number of rejected votes nearly tripled, with officials rejecting 332 votes in the first round and invalidating 965 in the second.
According to the region's electoral district secretary Mikael Juujärvi, ballots were thrown out for a number of reasons, including inappropriate markings, illegibility or if they were left blank.
Finland's voting system is pen-and-paper based, with each candidate represented by a number. Voters write their candidate's number on a ballot paper, which is then examined and either counted or rejected by election officials.
Sometimes voters get creative, rebellious or maybe just forgetful.
In this election, Stubb was number 8 while Haavisto was 10.
According to Juujärvi, some protesters submitted (invalidated) ballots filled in with "810" or "108".
Other ballots included write-in candidates, both fictional and real.
They included veteran Centre Party politician Paavo Väyrynen, Finland's legendary former president Urho Kekkonen, current outgoing President Sauli Niinistö and even former PM Sanna Marin. Some votes were also cast for "007" or James Bond, Juujärvi noted.
The election's second round also saw an increasing number of people filling ballots with poetry, song verses and drawings. Some of the rejected ballots were decorated with glossy stickers, according to Juujärvi, while others had submitted critiques and insults directed at both or one of the candidates.
He said the increase in protest votes mainly indicates that the two candidates were not satisfactory to all voters — and particularly noticeable on ballots that were filled in with the names of candidates from the first round.
The latest episode of the All Points North podcast asks how Finland's new president will manage Russian relations, what his views are on China, and what are the implications for Åland's demilitarisationListen to the episode via this embedded player, Yle Areena, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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