The number of candidates seeking City Council and School Board seats dropped to 51 with the disqualifications prompted by insufficient signatures. Showalter said that none has indicated that he or she plans to appeal, but at least one candidate has inquired about running a write-in campaign.

On the council, two candidates were disqualified: Joe C. Cook, who filed to represent the 7th District, and Michael Dickinson, a strip club owner who initially said he would run for mayor but instead filed to represent the 1st District.

The five School Board candidates disqualified were: Eppes, 9th District; Nathaniel Kirts, 3rd District; Ricky Johnson and Jason Benjamin Thompson, 6th District; and Shawn Minter, 7th District.

Eppes said she would not appeal her disqualification, leaving Linda Owen to run for the seat unopposed — the only such race in the city.

Eppes, whose controversial term has included public spats with colleagues and being admonished and censured in 2014 over allegations that she shared confidential information about students with a mental health service provider, said she fell eight signatures short of what was needed to qualify for the ballot but decided not to appeal the decision.