Powell County, Montana, held an election for Sheriff on November 4. The only name on the ballot was the incumbent, but a write-in candidate, Gavin Roselles, had a strong campaign. The official returns show the write-in candidate losing by a vote of 994 to 904. However, 138 write-in votes were disallowed, mostly because the voter only wrote in the surname “Roselles” instead of “G. Roselles” or “Gavin Roselles.” Also some write-ins were disallowed because the voter didn’t fill in the oval next to the name that had just been written in. See this story. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.

Matt Taylor filed to run for the non-partisan post of member of the Yolo County (California) Board of Education. He then learned that his opponent, the incumbent, was raising a great deal of money, so he assumed he couldn’t win and tried to withdraw. But California doesn’t permit candidates to withdraw. Taylor then ceased all campaign activity, but he won anyway. See this story. Thanks to Doug McNeil for the link.

Roll Call here lists nine U.S. House races in which the winner is not yet definitely settled. Roll Call also lists the Alaska U.S. Senate race as not finally determined. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.