BY ABBY FOX

The final vote tally, released Thursday following the counting of nearly 700 absentee ballots, showed the next town council has two new men, Michael Kiernan and Richard Buonauito and the three incumbents who ran again, Michael Isaacs, Henry Boezi and Mark Schwager -- the same results as on Election Day.

Steve Gregson, former school committee member, came 28 votes short of Buonauito’s 4,086 votes, keeping him off the council.

In a small town, the difference between winning and losing is a razor’s edge. The top vote-getter, Isaacs, had 4,783 votes, while Gregson had 4,058.

Buonauito said, “I’m very honored to have been elected. I’m looking forward to the next two years.”

The victors on the state level stayed put after the absentee count, including Sen. Michael Lenihan, who ended with 2,877 votes to Republican opponent John Pagliarini’s 2,703. It appears absentees did more for Lenihan than for Pagliarini: he had 301 here, compared to 157 for his challenger.

And although Democrat Jean Ann Guliano received more absentee votes than Rep. Bob Watson, he stayed well ahead, with 3,825 votes to her 3,170.

School committee

Robert Durant, Paul Martin and Deidre Gifford are the three new school committee members, in the order of votes received. Coming in fourth, and therefore, off the committee, was James Patti.

Martin said, “First of all, I feel the overwhelming task and major responsibility for the next school committee, which I hope will be headed by Jean Ann Guliano, will be to do whatever needs to be done to make sure the new middle school building is properly constructed and that we get the most bang for our buck,” and second, he said, “It’s very important we negotiate a teacher contract before it expires.” And lastly, “The major challenge will be for all seven members to work together. The last council I was on, you had two dissenting individuals. But that’s history now.”

Martin attributed his 3,993 votes to signs put up around town and at the polling stations.

“I went to one of the polls, and I asked for [outgoing school committee member] Sue Cienki’s support,” he said. “Although I was not able to do the canvassing, I knew how important it was to get name recognition near the polls on Election Day. People were willing to hold up signs for me.”

Gifford said, “I’m thrilled. I’m happy to be part of the committee and thrilled the town really supported the school bond in overwhelming numbers. We have a lot of work ahead of us but I think the composition of the new school committee is going to be very cooperative. It’s a strong group and the town council is obviously very supportive as well, so I think it’s going to be a positive experience for the whole town.”

Obama takes EG

For a town with an enduring Republican reputation, which had no trouble supporting President George W. Bush in past elections, this time, it went for president-elect Barack Obama, 3,914 votes to Republican John McCain’s 3,568. Absentee ballots went more to Obama than to McCain, 419 versus McCain’s 250, which the town clerk’s office contributed to the number of college students voting away from home.

High turnout

Out of 10,210 registered voters, 75 percent of them, or 7,671 cast ballots -- a high turnout.