I wouldn't count on Wake County school board member Kevin Hill being able to avoid a runoff.

New figures today from the Wake County Board of Elections show there are 50 provisional ballots and 48 late-arriving absentee ballots still outstanding in the District 3 race. Hill would have to win all 98 ballots and receive some mail-in ballots from military voters by Friday to have a majority to avoid a runoff against Heather Losurdo.

Also today, school board candidate Jennifer Mansfield said she hasn't decided yet whether she'll endorse Losurdo in the runoff. No word yet from Eric Squires.

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION

Revised wording to show that there are 50 provisional votes and that he'd need additonal batlots from military voters.

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill is asking that opponent Jennifer Mansfield stop saying that he wants quick passage of the new student assignment plan.

In a press release today, Hill points to this statement on Mansfield's website that "District 3′s current representative has indicated a desire to get this passed as quickly as possible." Hill calls that statement "demonstrably false."

"Time and time again, I have declared that we need to slow the assignment process down," Hill says in the press release. "In fact, I asked whether we 'wanted to do it quickly or correctly' when we discussed the timing."

Wake County school board candidate Jennifer Mansfield is mocking the skunk wars taking place in the District 3 race.

In a press release today, Mansfield's campaign says she "continues to talk to voters every day about the issues" while her opponents dress up in skunk costumes. She says her opponents "continue to fling mud at one another and try to distract voters from the real issues."

Mansfield says students aren't getting what they deserve, District 3 families aren't being well-represented and parents' needs aren't being considered in the new student assignment plan. She also says students are only beginning to be challenged to the level of their abilities and people aren't content "with the extreme partisanship demonstrated in our school board meetings."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo holds the clear fundraising lead for the District 3 seat.

New campaign reports filed this week show that Losurdo had raised $40,244.55 as of Sept. 26 with $9,522.60 on hand. School board member Kevin Hill reported raising $24,055 with $12,570.69 on hand. Jennifer Mansfield is well behind with $5,802.19 raised and $2,513.18 on hand.

Some of the disparity between Losurdo and Hill is mitigated by the spending that outside groups have put into the race attacking her.

It's the self-described "principled principal" running against three challengers who all think they can do a better job of representing District 3 on the Wake County school board.

As noted in today's article, school board member Kevin Hill is emphasizing his education background in his re-election bid. With the departure of Carolyn Morrison in December, Hill says he would potentially be the only board member left with experience as a teacher and principal.

"As a Board of Education, it's important to have some perspectives from an educator with both my experience as a teacher and principal," Hill said.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance is going after Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo and the new student assignment plan in its efforts to back Jennifer Mansfield in District 3.

In an e-mail Tuesday to WSCA supporters, the group says Losurdo "can't make those arguments on her own" and "she will rely on the Republican machine to feed her talking points." It's part of a message urging people to donate to Mansfield and help out in the campaign.

"WCPSS students deserve more!" according to the e-mail. "They deserve someone like Jennifer who has been in the trenches fighting for family oriented, student oriented solutions for many years."

It shouldn't be a surprise who the Independent is endorsing for the Wake County school board.

In the latest issue of the liberal weekly out today, the Indy is backing Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8. It matches the endorsements made by the Wake County Democratic Party and Wake NCAE.

"If all five win, the 5-4 conservative majority on the board will be ousted, replaced by a new 5-4 majority of moderate candidates," the Indy writes. "It can happen if the voters who believe in public education and want every child in the county to get a good one take time to vote. Two years ago, they stayed away in droves, and they let the tea party win. We've seen what followed."

Wake County school board candidate Jennifer Mansfield is raising more questions about what she feels is the lack of transparency in the student assignment plan being developed for next school year.

In a post today on her Voice For Equity blog, Mansfield says she plugged in some of the North Raleigh District 3 nodes and found their choices included Reedy Creek, Dillard Drive and Weatherstone elementary schools. All three schools are in or very close to Cary.

Mansfield also wrote that "the choices often varied a lot for people who lived fairly close to each other." She mapped out the choices on her blog.

"Why are the options so different for these two nodes that are directly across the road from each other?" Mansfield writes. "This illustrates to me that it will be so easy for WCPSS to manipulate your choices in this plan to steer you where they want you to go. No longer will we be able to see entire nodes getting moved and question it — it will all be done under cover and we will never know about it."

Wake County school board candidate Jennifer Mansfield is pitching the theme of "progress, not politics" in her new campaign flier.

Mansfield's flier shows her as supporting the move to community-based schools while saying she will "stop the political partisanship" on the board. She's incorporating wording that's been used by the Republican and Democratic candidates.

The flier describes Mansfield as an "experienced education advocate" and "committed to schools, not politics" in the District 3 race.

Wake County school board and municipal candidates will be hanging out tonight with realtors, developers and other members of the public.

The 1st Annual Triangle-Area "Meet Your Candidates" Mixer will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at One Eleven Place in Cary. The event is hosted by the Triangle Community Coalition, the Triangle Apartment Association and the Triangle Commercial Association of Realtors.

Organizers say these five school board members have indicated they will attend: Christine Kushner, Jennifer Mansfield, Ron Margiotta, Jim Martin and Cynthia Matson. Others may attend as well.

The mixer is open to the public. There's a $15 fee for people who haven't registered in advance.