AMHERST - More than four hours after polls closed in Amherst, unofficial results from Tuesday's election were reported by the town clerk's office.

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess explained Wednesday that her office couldn't release the voting tallies immediately because the results from the voting machines were not considered final. Numerous "hand ballots" had to be tabulated by election workers. These are ballots that couldn't be read by the optical scan machines.

"They just had a lot of work to do," Burgess said.

She also observed that some wardens just work quicker than others.

"There are many factors that make one precinct faster than another," Burgess said.

Burgess said the vote totals will remain unofficial until all ballots are counted, including provisional ballots and overseas ballots.

"It won't change the outcome, but it will change the numbers," Burgess said.

According to the unofficial tallies, Aaron Hayden won the Select Board seat with 4,152 votes, followed by Vladimir Morales with 2,491, David Keenan with 812 and Calvin Brower with 293. An increase in the Community Preservation Act surcharge from 1 ½ percent to 3 percent went down to defeat by a 5,294-5,122 count.

The 12,849 voters who cast ballots represented a 68 percent turnout of the town's 18,962 registered voters. By way of comparison, the spring's town election had a turnout of just 22.6 percent, and the victors in the five-way race for two select Board seats, Stephanie O'Keeffe and Diana Stein, each received fewer votes than Morales.

- SCOTT MERZBACH