Where I live, it is possible to elect people into public office that weren't officially running, at least on a local level. There was a prominent example in a nearby town (not a big town, around 50,000 inhabitants) a few years ago in which only the current mayor and some dubios candidate ran for mayor. At the end, a prominent local opposition figure was elected because thousands of people wrote his name + address on the ballot. He accepted and is now mayor.