Steve Quillen, Miami County elections director, on Friday morning submitted his resignation “due to the stress of the upcoming presidential election.”

The Miami County Board of Elections held an executive session Thursday afternoon, and the board accepted Quillen’s resignation via a 4-0 vote at an emergency meeting Friday morning.

The board asked BOE Deputy Director Pamela Calendine to contact the Secretary of State’s office for assistance with the Nov. 6 election.

Quillen is a Republican, so under Ohio law, the county Republican party is to recommend a replacement.

Republican board member Jose Lopez said “nothing that occurred here in any way affects integrity of the election.”

In announcing the resignation to BOE staff after the meeting, Democratic board chairman Roger Luring called it a bump in the road.

Luring said there is no connection between Quillen’s resignation and Miami County’s difficulty in getting voters’ absentee ballots to them in the mail on a timely basis. Some residents have not received those ballots, which were allowed to be mailed beginning Oct. 2.

Luring thanked Quillen for his years of service, and other board members deferred questions to Luring.

Also during the meeting, the board voted to terminate a temporary election employee, but Luring would not say if these two actions by board were related.