Deciding to run a write-in campaign in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is easy.

Winning one is hard.

Just ask Hershey area opthalmologist Anju Singh, Bethel Park’s Peter Kohnke or Wilkes-Barre’s Dino Disler.

The trio each reached the threshold of 300 write-in votes to qualify for the November ballot in their respective races.

Singh received 441 write-in votes on an empty Democratic ballot to earn the nomination in the 106th Legislative District. She will face Rep. Thomas Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) in the fall.

Kohnke received 534 votes in Allegheny County and 326 write-ins from Washington County voters, giving him nearly three times the number needed to qualify for the Nov. 5 general election. He will take on Rep. Natalie Mihalek (R-Allegheny/Washington) in the 40th District.

Disler amassed 651 write-ins on a ballot with no listed candidates to earn the GOP nomination opposite Democratic incumbent Eddie Day Pashinski (D-Luzerne) in the 121st District.

The challenge for both successful candidates, as well as many who failed to reach the 300 plateau, is just getting the name correct.

Pennsylvania’s Election Code (25 P.S. § 3155) requires that the election boards must compute and certify votes exactly as the names were written on the ballot. Also, a Board of Elections must certify votes cast on ballots exactly as names are written on the ballot and may not group similar names together. For example, for a candidate having the name John C. Lancaster, votes cast for John C. Lancaster, J. Lancaster, J. C. Lancaster, and Jon Lancaster would all appear separately on the certification.

So votes cast for “Dino Distler,” “Dino Dissler,” “Dino Diser,” “Dinodsler,” “Dino D’ster,” “Dino,” “Disler,” “D. Disler,” “Dino Densil,” “DinoDisler,” “Dino Disley,” “John Disler,” “Dave Disler,” “Dino Disher,” “Dino Dishler,” “Dino D,” “Dino Desler,” “Disler Dino,” “Dino Ditzler,” “Dissler,” “Dino Didtler,” “Dino Drisler,” “Dinodilsr,” “DdinnoDistler,” and “Dino Ditsler” did not count.

Neither did “DinoDesler,” “Dino Disoris,” “Dino Dirsir,” “Dino Dister,” or “Dino-Disler.”

That’s a total of 43 write-in votes that seemed to be intended for Disler that were disallowed. That’s 14.3 percent of the total of 300 needed.

Only “Dino Disler” counts. Fortunately for the 65-year-old, the 651 that did count was well above the number required.

For Singh, a naturalized citizen of India, her write-in campaign was launched after a successful challenge by two fellow Democrats in the House district disqualified enough signatures on her nomination petitions to force her to withdraw from the primary.

She told PennLive that she almost decided to end her campaign at that point, before her “physician brain turned on.”

“No matter what you do, the probability that you’re going to save this patient is really, really low. What are you going to do? Not even try? As a physician, you don’t throw in the towel. Even if there is just 1% of saving the patient. You give it a try.”

And she not only crossed the 300-vote threshold, but also was the highest vote-getter among Democrats to qualify for the November general election.

Elections officials often record each and every write-in vote, especially if the total number of write-ins exceeds the leading total. It is a time-consuming task that occasionally brings snickers when recording some write-in votes.

Disler did defeat such luminaries as former President Donald Trump, deceased Pennsylvania Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, U.S. Senate hopeful Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania Attorney General candidate Dave Sunday, and fictitious show salesman Al Bundy.

Other Luzerne County races included write-ins for Gumby’s sidekick Pokey, TV personality Kelsey Grammer, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and cartoon hero Fred Flintt Stone.