The deadline to file for write-in candidate status was Aug. 16, 2013 – Monday. Bet you didn’t know that. No one talks about write-in candidates much, because it’s believed to be an impossible task. That wasn’t the case in Detroit recently, where Mike Duggan came in first in the run-off primary. The Board of Elections really doesn’t have much to do with write-in candidates, other than set the deadline and put the write-in option on the electronic ballot.

But in the Dayton School Board “race” where we had 4 candidates for 4 slots, now we have a fifth option. Since this is kind of a guerrilla race with the top four candidates advancing, the only way a write-in stands a chance is if almost all the voters choose to NOT vote for the same candidate on the ballot.

That all said Walter J. Hickman Jr., who took out petitions but didn’t turn them in, is now the proverbial fifth wheel running for Dayton Public School Board of Education. He will face incumbents Joe Lacey, Ron Lee, and newcomers Adil T. Baguirov, and Hazel G. Rountree as you learned in this post: No reason to vote in Dayton Public School race

Hickman’s only chance comes if there are a lot of people like me who don’t bother to vote for unopposed candidates, and his supporters only vote for him, but that is a long shot.

Of course, if the Supreme Court would act on the William Pace candidacy, there may be one more write-in candidate, but at this point, I wouldn’t hold my breath.