Votes were spread out evenly in the contested races during Bow’s Election Day on the school and town sides, with incumbents winning in nearly every category.

Incumbent Selectman Harry Judd won a tight race over opponent Robert Louf by a 732-679 vote, earning him another term on the board.

“I am gratified by the vote of the town, and I think it is a recognition that the Board of Selectmen is doing a good job,” said Judd. “This was not a referendum on me, but on the board as a whole and the direction we’re taking.”

Judd said the town needs to focus on developing the industrial zone in the Route 3A area in the upcoming years.

“We need to put together a solid plan for water and sewer. If we don’t build it, they won’t come,” said Judd.

The School Board race was also a tight one, as incumbents Anne Baier and Deb McCann retained their seats, earning 658 and 649 votes, respectively.

Van Mosher came close to earning a spot on the board, but fell 37 votes short with 612.

“I am sure that Mr. Mosher was pleasantly surprised with the amount of votes he got. He has his supporters,” said McCann. “We (School Board members) know we have to keep a tight line on the budget. There’s still work to be done. This is a great community and we’ll pull together.”

Though Mosher lost his bid for a seat on the School Board, he earned six write-in votes for the school clerk position – a seat for which no candidates filed.

Baier was happy with her reelection, although surprised by the ballot totals.

“I guess I am surprised it was as close as it was,” she said. “We had a goal-setting session two weeks ago and at the top of the results was communication, and this result tells me that the communication needs to be there.”

The continuity of retaining all five board members is important, Baier said.

“I think that being on the board is excellent experience. People who haven’t been on the board and haven’t attended meetings don’t have any idea of how much is involved,” said Baier. “It’s not a simple situation. It’s a complex process.”

Incumbents Peter Cheney, 608 votes, and George Lagos, 587 votes, were re-elected to their seats on the Budget Committee, with Brad Hutton finishing in third place with 540 votes.

“It isn’t an easy process,” said Lagos. “You have to balance the services required and manage the increase and tax increase, which is seemingly more and more difficult.”

Cheney said the committee has a harder time during trying economic times.

“It is quite difficult. The selectmen and town manager have learned from last year’s experience that they need to tighten things up a little bit,” said Cheney. “I think they got the message after last year’s Town Meeting.”

The only incumbent who was not re-elected was Thomas Ives, who was defeated 605-530 by Lisa Richards in the race for a five-year term as library trustee.

“I bring to the position a new perspective. I am really in shock that I won. I am really looking forward to getting to meet the new library director,” said Richards. “It’ll be really exciting to have a new person and to work with him or her to expand the services in town.”

The final contested race went to incumbent Henry Uchida, who defeated John Caron 580-496 in the vote for trustee of trust funds.

In the uncontested races, Jim Hatem was re-elected school moderator, Sara Swenson was voted supervisor of the checklist for six years, Deborah Demoulpied was voted supervisor of the checklist for four years, and John King was elected library trustee for a four-year term.

No candidates ran for school treasurer, but Mark Lavalle got the nod, as he received nine write-in votes.

Town Clerk Jill Hadaway said she will check with the Secretary of State on whether a write-in nomination requires 10 or more votes to place a person in office.

Of Bow’s 5,851 registered voters, 1,439 voted on Election Day, a 24.5 percent turnout.