The N.C. State Board of Elections has decided not to accept Wake School Board Candidate Cathy Truitt's request to withdraw from a runoff for the District 2 seat. The decision means the Nov. 3 election will determine whether a new board majority in favor of neighborhood and community schools will assume control.

Truitt filed for a runoff on Oct. 7 after her opponent, John Tedesco,failed to get the required 50 percent of votes to win the election. Tedesco got more than 49 percent of the vote, while Truitt received 24 percent. Incumbent Horace Tart came in third in the race.

In a surprising move, Truitt announced she was withdrawing from the runoff on Oct. 19, but did not file paperwork with the Wake Board of Elections until Oct. 21. Because there is no precedent for a candidate withdrawing from a runoff in the county, and because early voting had already begun, Wake Board of Elections officials asked the state for guidance as to how to proceed.

In the discussion Wednesday, Board member Bill Peaslee clarified that Truitt had not withdrawn her candidacy, merely her request for the runoff.

"I don't know Ms. Truitt, but I'm going to assume that she chose her words carefully," said Peaslee. "There is no evidence that she wants to withdraw as a candidate. But it is her right as to whether she wants to have a runoff or not."

Board member Anita Earls said statutes do not allow candidates to withdraw their request for a runoff, but that Truitt's move could constitute a withdrawal of her candidacy.

"In all of those circumstances,it is clear that the runoff election proceeds," she said. "We need to require the election to move forward. This is the right thing to happen."

Supporters of Wake County's socioeconomic diversity policy had expressed their support for Truitt in the runoff in hopes of preserving support on the Board of Education for the policy. The NAACP had called for the runoff to continue.