Topeka ? Two State Board of Education members who lost Republican primaries to more conservative challengers are running as write-in candidates in the Nov. 5 general election.

Val DeFever of Independence announced her bid Tuesday to prevent Iris Van Meter of Thayer from claiming the 9th District seat in southeast and central Kansas.

Last week, Sonny Rundell of Syracuse launched a write-in candidacy against Connie Morris of St. Francis in the 5th District, which covers western and north-central Kansas.

Morris has been the most visible board candidate because of her position that the state shouldn’t educate the children of illegal immigrants, which is contrary to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Neither candidate has opposition from Democrats or other political parties.

DeFever said she had received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails urging her to run a write-in campaign.

“When that kind of outpouring happens, you have to listen,” DeFever said during an interview. “They’re coming to me. I’m not pursuing them.”

Successful write-in candidacies are rare in Kansas politics. The last one in a state race was in 1994, when state Rep. Ellen Samuelson of Newton recaptured her seat after losing the GOP primary.