IRONTON — The race for Ironton City Council got a little less contested on Friday.

The Lawrence County Board of Elections disallowed the nominating petition of current councilman Ralph “Butch” Huff, ruling it did not meet the minimum threshold of 50 valid signatures needed to declare his candidacy for re-election.

The board voted unanimously at its Friday certification meeting to disallow Huff’s petition along with seven others that were deemed unacceptable based on a myriad of errors and in two instances, questionable signatures.

In Huff’s case, the board voted to disallow his petition after election workers were unable to find at least 50 valid signatures from registered voters within the city of Ironton listed from the 69 signatures Huff submitted with his nominating petition.

All candidates for Ironton City Council were required to garner a minimum of 50 valid signatures from registered voters within the city in order to file.

Prospective candidates often times submit their nominating petitions with more than the required minimum, but are not permitted to submit petitions containing more than three times the number of signatures needed.

While Huff’s name will not appear on the November ballot, he could still file as a write-in candidate. Sept. 2 is the deadline for candidates declaring themselves as a write-in.

With Huff currently off the ballot, the battle for the four open seats on Ironton City Council comes down to six interested candidates.

They include incumbents Bob Cleary, Leo Johnson and Mike Lutz along with former councilman Hugh Scott, former Ironton police officer Beth Rist and long-time Irontonian Dave Frazer.

Those who also saw their nominating petitions disallowed unanimously by the Lawrence County Board of Elections were:

Vic Hopper, Sr. (Hamilton Twp. Trustee) for submitting a photocopied petition with a photocopied signature.

Don Rigney (Windsor Twp. Trustee) for submitting a petition with an incomplete circulator statement.

Don Fitzpatrick Sr. (South Point Village Council) for insufficient signatures.

Allison Layman (Athalia Village Council) for submitting a petition with an incomplete circulator statement.

Bernard Kincaid (South Point School Board) for submitting a petition with a signature under question that, by state law, voided all other signatures on that specific petition sheet.

Randy Mullins (Elizabeth Twp. Trustee) for submitting a petition with a signature under question that, by state law, voided all other signatures on that specific petition sheet.

Grover Smith (Chesapeake School Board) who died earlier this month.

Along with certifying all other nominating petitions, the Lawrence County Board of Elections certified four tax levy’s that will appearing in certain communities and townships on election day.

Certified were fire protection renewal levies for Lawrence Township (1-mil), Chesapeake (1.5-mil) and Upper Township (2-mil).

Voters in Coal Grove will also have to decide on approving a 1-mil operating levy for five years. In 2008 voters rejected passage of a similar renewal levy that brought in nearly $19,000 annually.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.