Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. Just ask six prospective city council candidates in Clarkston.

Six of the seven candidates who filed applications to run for seats were informed by Oakland County last month their applications were disqualified and their names will not appear on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.

The candidates, which include three council seats and mayor, will now have to decide whether to move forward as write-in candidates.

Incumbent Mayor Sue Wylie, incumbent council members Peg Roth and Mark David Lamphier and new candidates Lily McLean, Al Avery, Erica Jones and Lisa Patercsak all filed their paperwork, but only Jones remains on the ballot after the others were removed for various reasons.

Those reasons include: not checking boxes on filing method or which election the candidate was running in, failing to fill out the jurisdiction they were running in or the seat they were running for.

Lamphier said he filled out his application and had a Clarkston city hall employee take a look at it to verify he had filled it out properly. It wasn’t. He had missed multiple required areas.

“There is a certain way to fill everything out correctly and I had someone look at it to make sure it was correct and unfortunately it was not,” said Lamphier, who is seeking a second term on the council. “I don’t necessarily point the finger at anybody, but I was just looking for a little guidance and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

All candidates who choose to move forward as write-ins must file with Oakland County by Oct. 25.

Voters must then write the candidate’s name on their ballot and must spell the name exactly as it appears on the file submitted by the candidate. The top two vote getters will earn the two open council seats.

“As an incumbent it puts me at a little bit of a disadvantage versus being on the ballot,” said Lamphier. “But I will be filing before the deadline to run as a write-in.”

Patercsak was disqualified for not checking the box for the term she was running for, partial or full term.

“I was rushing to fill out the paperwork on deadline day (July 23) and had my affidavit notarized and was putting everything together to submit at the office and I missed the box,” Pastercsak admitted. “To be honest, I still have not decided if I am going to run as a write-in.”

Patercsak, who is currently on the board for the Clarkston Historic District Commission, cited the possible issue with the correct spelling of her name as the main reason to forgo the write-in route.

“If they are going to make sure that all the spellings are exactly the way they should be, then I do not have a very high likelihood of being one of those people,” she said. “It was just sloppiness on all of our parts. It is just that simple.”

Roth readily admitted all the candidates made the errors.

“As we all will admit, it was our error. We did not proof our applications before we turned them in,” said Roth, who failed to fill in the proper jurisdiction.

“My intention was to take it home and proof it and I just ran it across the street and submitted it and it was my mistake,” said Roth. “It was an unfortunate mistake, but there is a good lesson to be learned to be careful and slow down, especially in important matters, so unfortunately we have all been kicked into the write-in position.”

She said she intends to file to run on the November ballot as a write-in.

Since Wylie was the lone candidate for mayor, there will be no name listed on the ballot for the seat, but she intends to move forward as a write-in candidate.

Avery and McLean did not respond to requests for comment.