Blacksburg Town Council candidate Frank Lau said Monday he is responsible for including the names of two residents on a campaign flier without their permission.

Lau said he "inadvertently" left the names of Phyllis Olinger and Rhoda Myers on his list of supporters for the campaign letter distributed around town. The letter listed the names of 143 people and endorsed him and candidates Krisha Chachra, Greg Fansler and Robert "Tom" Rogers.

"They should have been left off and they weren't," Lau said. "I inadvertently put them on the list."

"It was all my error. I made the mistake and I didn't realize I had done it until much later," he said.

Olinger and Myers said last week that they did not give permission for their names to be used on the letter, which endorsed all four candidates.

Myers is the widow of the late Councilman Derek Myers. One of the four at-large seats up for election on today's ballot belonged to her husband, who died in February.

Last week, Lau said he considered Myers and Olinger longtime friends but declined to comment when asked whether he put their names on the letter.

He said Monday that he did put their names on the letter in error and spoke to Myers and Olinger last week to explain the situation.

Lau said his main concern was his friendship with the two residents.

"There's no hard feelings," he said. "We're still friends."

Other residents contacted last week who were included on the letter said that they were aware their names would be used and were glad to lend their support.

Rogers and Chachra said last week that they both asked for permission from supporters before adding their names to the letter, which was dated Oct. 24.

Fansler said Monday that "every person I contacted understood who and what they were endorsing."

As for Lau's situation, Fansler said in an e-mail that he thought Lau has received support from the two residents. Fansler also said he regrets that they were added to the list.

"We relied on one another to make sure everyone we asked to be put on the letter understood what was being done."

He added, "We did this in a very short amount of time -- we were trying to accomplish a feat that had never been done before -- reach every single voter in Blacksburg on one day. What concerned me is the fact that two out of the 140-plus names (and another 100-plus that could have been added if time permitted) became a high-profile news story."

Rogers said Monday that Lau made an "honest mistake, and I don't understand why it got as much coverage as it did."

Chachra said in an e-mail that, "as a group we trusted that any name that one of us added to the letter had read it in full and agreed to sign their name.

"It was unfortunate that Frank Lau made a mistake, but I believe he was not intentionally trying to mislead anyone and did not purposely wish to misrepresent his supporters."

The other candidates running for Blacksburg council are incumbent Susan Anderson, Bryce Carter, Cecile Newcomb, Michael Sutphin, John Bush and Paul Lancaster, who has not been actively campaigning because of health reasons.

Incumbent Mayor Ron Rordam is running unopposed.