CARLSBAD - A former Carlsbad school board member is running as a write-in Democratic candidate for the 38th Senate District.

If Barbara Mead gets 2,006 votes -- name and bubble filled in -- on June 6, she will qualify as the Democratic candidate in the November election.

Assemblyman Mark Wyland, a Republican, and Libertarian Brian Klia are already on the ballot. The 38th District extends along the coast from Del Mar as far as San Juan Capistrano, and registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by a ratio of more than 1.6 to 1.

Mead, who has been walking door-to-door for congressional candidate Francine Busby, said she decided to seek the nomination after receiving a sample ballot that had no Democratic candidate for her Senate district.

"The Democrats would be just handing Mark Wyland the Senate seat by not having a candidate," she said.

The incumbent, Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), can't run again because of term limits.

Wyland, a former Escondido Union School District trustee, has also reached his limit representing the 74th Assembly District.

Mead said she would emphasize strengthening community colleges and improving transportation and health insurance in her campaign.

She said the state's community colleges are facing a crunch in space and need more support. Local colleges play a vital role in nurturing North County's biotechnology businesses, she said.

Mead was a member of the Carlsbad school board from 1992 to 2000. She serves on the board of the MiraCosta College Foundation and of the Children's Discovery Museum in Carlsbad and can frequently be found at fund-raising events for both.

She pointed out that she had experience prodding the state Department of Transportation. When she lived in Granada Hills, she was chair of a campaign that convinced the department to pay to relocate a school away from a freeway.

On a League of Women Voters Web site, she describes herself as a "former Republican and now proud to be a Democrat."

She was enthusiastic about the proposed Poseidon desalination project in Carlsbad and wanted the state government to encourage more along the coast. She wants the state to ask health maintenance organizations to set up a "model health plan" that could cover uninsured people.

Mead qualified as a write-in candidate after collecting 56 signatures from district voters, exceeding the required number of 40.

The number of votes required for her to qualify as the Democratic candidate is 1 percent of the 200,578 votes cast in the 2002 election for the seat.

Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at (760) 740-5412 or qeastman@nctimes.com.