Of the five candidates running for City Council seats in Districts 1 and 3, only one will appear on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary because of challenges to the registration forms of three of the candidates.

Incumbents J.W. Pirtle and Vic McIntosh and challenger Dwayne Hubbard were taken off the primary ballots and forced to run write-in campaigns after the city’s election board found they had improperly listed the position for which they were running.

“There’s a spot on the form where you list the office you’re running for that’s really confusing,” Pirtle said. “It’s a little trick thing that nobody pays attention to, but this year people were watching.”

Gina Jackson, who is running against Pirtle and Hubbard for the council seat in District 1, made the challenges to their applications. Their removal left her as the only candidate to appear on Tuesday’s primary ballot. The top two vote getters in that election will advance to the general election in April.

Ellen Knutson, a local citizen who disagreed with McIntosh’s views on several issues, challenged his forms. After McIntosh was removed from the ballot in District 3, another candidate, Matt Varble, decided to run his own write-in campaign.

“If McIntosh had decided not to run after being taken off the ballot, the council would have chosen the new council member, and I didn’t think that would be a good idea,” Varble said.

Although McIntosh and Varble are the only candidates in District 3, the write-in campaigns triggered an automatic primary election on Tuesday.

No matter who wins the primary, both candidates will be listed on April’s general election ballot, but both Varble and McIntosh said the primary would be an important sign as to the direction of the race.

“The primary is important to me to see if I can get my base out to actually do a write-in ballot,” McIntosh said. “It’s very important to see who can get the most people out to do something they’ve probably never done.”

Hubbard said that running a write-in campaign was not crippling but does require more work.

“I haven’t changed my campaigning, it just means I have to educate my voters on how to write me in on the ballot,” Hubbard said.

Pirtle said he had seen a candidate removed from the ballot because of such an error only once during his 22 years on the council.

“Basically, it happens when people start nitpicking,” Pirtle said.