Three people will be vying for two seats on the Oregon Board of Education on November 8. Unfortunately, Incumbent Board Member Diane Karoly will not be one of them.

The seats of both Karoly and Board President Eric Heintschel, who has decided not to run, are both up for grabs. Karoly had filed her petitions with the Lucas County Board of Elections, but a simple mistake will keep her off of the ballot.

According to Daniel DeAngelis, board of elections deputy director, Karoly turned in 124 signatures, but only 61 of those were valid.

“Part of the problem is Mrs. Karoly did not sign two of her petitions so we could not include those signatures,” DeAngelis said. “She needed 75 signatures and ended up with 61.”

Those who were certified for the November election are Earl John Gilliland Jr., of 1445 Turnau Rd., Curtice; P J Kapfhammer, of 3646 Navarre Ave., Oregon and Jeffrey S. Ziviski, of 1152 Heritage Lane, Oregon.

Karoly, reached at home, was in total shock when told by a Press reporter that she had not been certified.

“When you are out getting the signatures you think they are OK,” Karoly said. “I am surprised by the fact that I had not heard from anyone at the board of elections about this. I was just so careful with this.”

Karoly is serving her first term on the school board. In 2010, she served as board president.

“You know, you go through all of that, getting the signatures, and it comes down to signing a form,” Karoly said. “I thought that I had signed everything that I needed to sign.”

According to DeAngelis, Karoly may run as a write-in candidate. The deadline to file a declaration of intent to run as a write in is August 29, by 4 p.m.

As of last Wednesday, Karoly said she will file the declaration to run a as a write-in.

“I will be going down to the board of elections tomorrow to file,” she said. “I am going to try to make lemonade out of these lemons.”

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