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NORTH ATTLEBORO - Former Selectman David Chee was knocked out of the race for seats on the board of selectmen by just four votes in Tuesday's preliminary election, while the four remaining candidates appear to be locked in a tight race with the incumbents landing at the bottom of the pack.

Mark Williamson, the town's former human resources director, topped the ballot with 434 votes, while former Selectman Michael Thompson came in second with 362 votes.

Incumbent William Moffitt placed third with 336 votes and incumbent Marjorie Kraskouskas came in fourth with 322 votes. Chee placed fifth in the preliminary election with 318 votes, eliminating him from the race.

The top four candidates will vie for two seats on the board during the April 1 general election.

Williamson said he was pleased with his first-place finish. "I've learned to expect the unexpected," Williamson said of the results. "Even though we didn't have great voter turnout, the voters are saying loud and clear that they are interested in a new perspective."

Williamson said he will look at the results precinct-by-precinct while forming a plan for campaigning up until April. He said that he will continue to run an issues-based campaign.

"There are some important issues here that we need to drive home, especially the impact on services as we attempt to balance the budget," he said.

Thompson said he was pleased by his second place standing.

"We're up and we're running," Thompson said. "It's made very close - 30 votes is not a lot of votes. I'll continue to work to get my message out there."

He said that the budget is the key issue in the election.

"I think the voters, like the candidates, are very concerned about the finances of the town. There may be something to be said about the dual tax rate as well," Thompson said. "People were really hurt when they went back to a single tax rate and they're really struggling."

Moffitt said he needed to take a closer look at the results before formulating a campaign strategy for April.

"It's pretty interesting because it was pretty close. Mr. Williamson had a little bit of a separation, but it was fairly close from top to bottom," he said. "I haven't done any fundraising yet or much campaigning, but there's some work to do to help voters understand where I stand on the issues and what I've done."

Kraskouskas said she wasn't surprised by the results of the election. Because of family obligations, Kraskouskas said she ran a low-key campaign for the preliminary election but her efforts will ramp up as the April election approaches. "Congratulations to Mr. Williamson - he is clearly a front-runner - for lifting the bar for all of the candidates," she said. "I hope we will all continue to focus on discussion of the issues like the budget and how we're going to make it work in 2009."

Chee was not available for comment on Tuesday night.

Voter turnout figures were not available Tuesday night because of problems with the town's computer.