David Townsend D.T. Smith is officially a write-in candidate for Forsyth County sheriff in the Nov. 6 election.

Smiths request was certified Monday during the monthly meeting of the Board of Voter Registrations and Elections.

After the meeting, Forsyth County Elections Supervisor Barbara Luth said Smith had submitted all the necessary documents needed to verify his qualifications to run, including his birth certificate, background check and high school diploma.

Smith, who is a lieutenant colonel with the local sheriffs office, is challenging Republican nominee Duane Piper.

Piper, who retired last fall after 16 years with the agency, defeated three-term incumbent Sheriff Ted Paxton during the Aug. 21 runoff election.

No Democrats or independent candidates qualified to run in November.

Piper did not return phone calls for comment on the write-in opposition.

Smith, 59, has worked for the local sheriffs office for 25 years after spending 10 years in law enforcement in Florida.

He ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2000 against Paxton and then incumbent Dennis Denny Hendrix.

Smith has said he plans to take about a month and a half of his accumulated compensatory time to focus on the campaign.

Its going to be a campaign of getting the word out, he said. People just dont know that this is a possibility. So a lot of people need to be educated that there is a write-in candidate and they can still vote for me.