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North Brentwood Councilwoman Shirley Jones (Ward 1) dropped out of the town's election Monday.

election due to personal reasons, but she is throwing her support behind a write-in candidate.

Jones was unopposed in her re-election bid, but she dropped out this week because of a serious illness of a family member in New Jersey, she wrote in an e-mail.

"Because of the uncertainty of my travels, I have decided to not run for the council seat at this time," she wrote.

Resident Aaron Baynes, 46, is running a write-in campaign to fill Jones' vacant seat. Baynes ran for the Ward 1 council seat two years ago but lost.

"I talked to the [councilwoman], and she asked me if I wanted to run," Baynes said. "I tried to run two years ago and I didn't win. Well, I thought we'd give it a shot."

Town Manager Maryanne Anthony said write-ins are allowed with any town election. Judges verify write-in candidates' eligibility to hold council seats after they win. Winning candidates have to be North Brentwood residents for at least 30 days before the election.

"[Baynes] is doing a write-in campaign, passing out fliers in the community to let everybody know and Ms. Jones is fully supporting him," she said.

Baynes, a plumber, has lived in North Brentwood for 16 years. He said his priority is to rally neighborhoods together and support positive activities for seniors, adults and youth.

"[I'll] try to get the neighborhood straightened out and do more than sit there and collect [money]," he said. "The biggest thing is to bring people up instead of dragging people down, but it's got to be an effort made by everybody, not just me and the people sitting on the council."