LEWISTON — First there were no candidates. Now there are three.

Because no one filed as a Lewiston School Committee at-large candidate by the Sept. 9 deadline, the Lewiston ballot will show the seat on the ballot, but there will be no candidates names, Lewiston City Clerk Kathy Montejo said.

Now, three are vying for the at-large spot, all as write-in candidates.

That’s unusual, Montejo said.

Making this race a bit more unusual are the three candidates themselves.

One is a former Lewiston school superintendent. Robert Connors of 23 Charles St. has years of experience running schools. Retired superintendents are not common school board candidates.

The other two are Somali immigrants, the first to run for elected office in Lewiston-Auburn. They are ZamZam Mohamud of 66 Tall Pines Drive and Abdullahi M. Abdulle of 37 Spruce St.

Since Somali refugees began arriving in Lewiston 10 years ago, about 20 percent of the city’s 5,000-plus students are the children of Somali refugees.

Typically, when there’s no one running on the ballot for a School Committee seat, “We hear from a candidate a few days before,” Montejo said. “It’s unusual to have three people two weeks before the election giving us written statements.

She suspects what happened was the write-in candidates noticed that no one was running, so they filed papers, unaware others were thinking the same.

“There were no other candidates as far as I knew,” Connors said. “I thought somebody ought to be running.” He filed his papers as a write-in candidate on Oct. 24.

Connors retired as a Lewiston School Department superintendent in 1998. He’s serving as interim superintendent or assistant superintendent for several school districts, including Sabattus, Lisbon and Durham.

“I’ve been involved in education for many years. I thought I may be able to contribute,” he said.

On Oct. 25, Abdullahi Abdulle filed as a write-in candidate. Efforts to reach him Thursday and Friday were not successful. Abdulle’s business is Smart Interpreters at 12 Bates St. He also works as medical interpreter for St. Mary’s Health Care.

According to a 2004 Sun Journal business story, Abdulle speaks four languages, is a Somali native, a nurse and educator.

On Oct. 26 ZamZam Mohamud filed her papers for office, making her the third write-in candidate. She issued a news release saying she was excited for an opportunity to serve “and give back to my community where my children and I were educated.”

Mohamud graduated from the Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing. She is a volunteer in the community, and works as a hospital certified nursing assistant/interpreter. She has two children who are college students. Lewiston School Committee Chairman Jim Handy is volunteering for her campaign, serving as treasurer.

When residents vote for a write-in candidate on Election Day, they need some knowledge of the candidates, since the names will not be on the ballot.

“They’ll have to write the name of the person, the address, and connect the arrow,” Montejo said. If the candidate’s name is not spelled correctly it will be counted, as long as the spelling is close enough to identify the candidate.

“State law says if the voter’s intent is clear, then you can count the vote,” Montejo said.

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