Incumbent Selectman and Town Clerk Naida Parker topped the field with 302 votes Wednesday in a three-way race for one seat on the Board of Selectmen.

Former Town Moderator Woody Hartley earned 269 votes, while current Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Richard Cutler came in a close third with 206 votes.

The Selectman seat was the only contested race in the election, which drew 18.9 percent, or 778 of the 4,098 registered voters.

Parker said voters would have benefited no matter who won due to the candidates’ experience and dedication.

“We’ve all been involved in town for a lot of years,” Parker said. “This isn’t a negative race, it’s more about people voting for who they think will do the best job.”

Parker moved to Rochester in 1977 and has served as Town Clerk since 1984.

During the day, the three candidates waved and held signs alongside friends and family on Dexter Lane.

At 8 p.m., they gathered in the Senior Center to get the results.

Hartley, who had stepped down as moderator after 18 years, said he was disappointed, and thanked those who voted for him.

“I’m happy for all of the support I received,” he said. “I wish Naida the best of luck.”

Cutler served on the board with Parker from 1999 to 2002. A retired facilities director for the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, he said the board would have benefited from his years of management and budget experience.

Managing the election was a balancing act for Parker. As Town Clerk she is Rochester’s chief elections officer. Because she was also a candidate Parker spent most of the day outside of the polling station.

“It’s an eerie feeling not being able to perform my usual duties,” she said.

State law doesn’t prohibit her from managing the election, but she took measures to “avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

Aside from delivering absentee ballots and swearing in the election clerks, Parker said she stayed away from the polling area if she could.

“Those were mechanical functions of my job that couldn’t be avoided,” she said.

As in other elections, candidates are only allowed in the polling station to cast ballots.

At the end of the night, Parker stood back as another election clerk tabulated the ballots.

“I’m trying to be respectful of the voters and make sure the job gets done,” Parker said.

This was the first election where voters cast ballots on a new state-of-the-art machine.

At the Fall Town Meeting, voters approved $6,000 to purchase a DS200 Digital Image Scanner. Parker said a technician from the manufacturing company was on hand most of the day to answer questions and troubleshoot if problems arose.

She said most people found it an improvement over the old machine.

“The voters are finding it very user friendly,” Parker said.

Complete election results are listed below:

Moderator

Kirby Gilmore, 634 votes

Tree Warden

Jeff Eldridge, 633 votes

Board of Health

Dale Barrows, 601 votes

Cemetery Commission

Veronica Lafreniere, 648 votes

Park Commission

Kenneth Ross, 577 votes

Board of Assessors

Jane Cavanaugh, 594 votes

Debra Lalli, 584 votes

Library Trustee

Noelle Johnson, 557 votes

Mary-Patrice Ruocco, 514 votes

Rochester School Committee

Robin Rounseville, 605 votes

Tina Rood, 529 votes

Old Rochester Regional School Committee

Cheryl Hebert, 582 votes

Planning Board

Mike Murphy, 578 votes

Water Commission

Michael Conway, 588 votes