LISBON — Votes for former Columbiana school board candidate Nicholas Clemmer won’t count since he officially dropped out of the race Monday morning.

Due to the late withdrawal, his name remains on the printed ballot but Columbiana County Board of Elections Deputy Director Niki Wilkinson said signs will be posted at the affected precincts so that voters today will know he’s withdrawn and a vote for him won’t be counted.

When the election results are tallied and posted, votes for Clemmer won’t be included. The race overlaps into Mahoning County and she said the Mahoning County Board of Elections was directed to do the same.

According to Wilkinson, the school board race remains contested with three to elect. Michael Clark, Dylan Fletcher and Jake Ward are the candidates on the ballot and Scott Caron is competing as a write-in candidate.

When asked why Clemmer withdrew, county Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco said she didn’t know the reason.

On his candidate Facebook page, Clemmer called his withdrawal from the school board race “a difficult and deeply considered decision.”

“This was not a choice I made lightly, as my passion for our schools and students remains as strong as ever. Over the course of this campaign, I’ve had the honor of meeting so many of you and hearing your hopes for the future of our district. However, after careful evaluation, I’ve come to the conclusion that the systemic challenges currently in place make it incredibly difficult for an individual board member to drive the kind of real and meaningful change that I campaigned on and that I believe our students deserve,” he wrote.

He said he never wants to back down from a challenge, “but when the foundation for success and collaboration isn’t genuinely there, it’s simply not there.”

He thanked all of his supporters.

In preparation for today’s election, Fusco said she’s predicting a voter turnout of 20 to 25%, but added “that’s being generous.”

She said there will be a higher count in areas with contested races, but the numbers of in-office voters and absentee ballots received through the mail as of Monday was low, with 1,612 in-office voters and 688 ballots received in the mail. Last fall, during the presidential election, the number of in-office voters was 11,743.

During the meeting, the board approved adding a second DS200 optical scanner to be allocated at the following multi-precinct polling locations: East Palestine Church of Christ, Fairfield Township Government Center, Hanover Township United Local Schools, St. Clair Township Administration Building and Wellsville High School. Fusco said the reason was the expected turnout in those areas and the number of precincts in each location.

The board also gave permission for board personnel, in a bipartisan manner, to remake or reflect the voter intent on nine absentee ballots during the absentee ballot review. Five other absentee ballots had overvotes and another one was blank, so the races with overvotes won’t count on those ballots and the blank ballot won’t count since the voter didn’t vote for anything.

The board will reconvene tonight to certify the unofficial results. The polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today for voting.