By Andrea Gregory

Even though the day to pass in papers has come and gone, it is not too late to throw your hat in the ring for any of the elected seats in the city.

The fall election is already expecting one write-in candidate. And people have “up until the very end” to decide if they want to give a word-of-mouth or a sticker campaign a shot, said Nick Salerno, election commissioner.

The Ward 4 ballot will be without a candidate’s name for the local School Committee seat. Charlene Harris, who has held the seat for almost seven years, failed to deliver the necessary 100 signatures needed to run by the June 27 deadline. Harris is expected to launch a sticker campaign, hoping at least 100 people put her down on the ballot to fulfill the minimum requirement for a write-in candidate to make it into office.

However, the opportunity to run is out there for other residents. At this point anyone who decides to campaign would have to get there name out there and hope it sticks with voters enough for them to remember to write it in on the blank ballot space.

Another woman had pulled papers to run for the seat, but did not return them to the elections office. Christine Theberge Rafal did not return phone calls, enquiring if she was now thinking about the option of running as a write-in candidate now that no one handed in papers.

Having two or more write-in candidates could make this year’s election more exciting. There are currently nine new candidates, eight of them challenging local government leaders for their seats. None of the School Committee members are running against opponents.

If Harris is the sole option for Ward 4, she only needs votes from 100 of the 4,361 registered voters in her ward to continue in her position. Though it doesn’t seem like much of a challenge for Harris at this point, write-in candidates have not had many victories in Somerville. However, without an opponent, by default the odds are leaning in her favor.

Write in candidates, though rare and not typically successful in Somerville, have from time to time given it their best effort.

But taking a look back, write-ins have historically been the underdog and more often than not fallen short when up against candidates whose names are preprinted on the ballots.

“In the local level none of them were successful,” said Salerno, looking over election results of years past.

In 1995, two write in candidates tried to make it onto the Board of Aldermen. Philip Doherty ran a sticker campaign in Ward 1. Elio LoRusso also gave the write-in method a shot. With 260 votes, Doherty came in second place. LoRusso trailed behind with 215 votes. Richard Johnson won that year with 433 votes.

Also in 1995, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero won with 898 votes. Richard Scirocco had tried to face off against him and William White that year. However, Scirocco only landed 55 votes as a write-in candidate.

In 1993, there was a write-in candidate for mayor. Paul Stefanelli was able to get 2,658 voters to back him on Election Day without his name appearing on the ballot. However, Mike Capuano won the title of mayor that year with 7,898 votes and his name officially on the ballot.

In 1984, Salvatori Albono won an election as a write-in with 14,853 votes. He faced off against Vincent Piro for state senator. Piro’s name was on the ballot, but he was still beat by more than 2,000 votes.

“That was the only time in recent history that a write-in person won,” said Salerno.

Election results aren’t always easy to predict and write-in candidates can shake things up sometimes.

“Who knows what could happen? You never know,” said Salerno.