ATTLEBORO - Getting elected to the city council in a city the size of Attleboro means hitting the bricks and talking one-on-one with as many voters as possible, especially if a candidate is not well known.

Personal contact was one reason voters gave for the choices they made Tuesday, but experience and a desire for new faces figured prominently in the mix, according to a sampling of voters leaving the polls Tuesday.

In Ward 1, both candidates were newcomers, so voters knew they were getting a new face. Both candidates did a lot of door-to-door campaigning and both promised to be responsive to constituent needs - so, the question seemed to come down to experience.

A number of voters said high school student Joe Lazzerini needed seasoning before they'd entrust him with a council seat.

They clearly felt more comfortable with Lazzerini's opponent, Cherie Felos, a mother of five who recently earned a law degree. One woman voter said Lazzerini will have his day, but that day was not Tuesday.

"I give the young man a lot of credit. I'm sure somewhere along the line, he'll do very well," she said. "He's got a lot of gumption, but Felos is a lawyer and has experience."

A male voter was blunt.

"Lazzerini is too young," he said.

Another who said he was looking for experience said Lazzerini made him uneasy.

"As for Lazzerini, I'm a little concerned about him being in high school," the voter said.

In Ward 5, the dynamic was different.

There voters had a choice between a new face, Duff White, and an old friend, John Davis, who represented the ward for eight years before he decided to step down and run for mayor two years ago, a race which he lost.

In this election, White apparently did a better job getting his neighbors to vote for him. While each candidate captured their home precincts with 61 percent of the vote, the voters in White's precinct, which is bigger, came out in greater numbers in general and greater numbers for him in particular, giving him the election.

Only 16 percent of the 1,435 voters in Davis' 5A precinct showed up at the polls, while 22 percent of the 2,080 voters in White's 5B precinct came out to vote. That made the difference in a race White won by just 48 votes. Davis was well known, but White overcame that by getting out on the streets early and often, one voter said.

"I met him several times while he was campaigning," one man said. "And I really liked the way he presented himself."

In the council at-large race, a newcomer to politics but an old-timer in the volunteer community, Richard Conti, combined his network of friends and colleagues gained over many years with door-to-door campaigning to out-duel fellow newcomer Mark Cooper for an open seat.

He also out-dueled the incumbents, finishing first in the at-large race. People knew Conti, and said they admired him.

"He's done a lot of volunteer work for the community and he deserves it," one voter said.

Meanwhile, the push for new faces, clearly evident in the school committee election in which almost every race was contested and four incumbents were ousted, likely helped to elevate Conti to the top of the at-large race and almost pushed Cooper into the final at-large seat.

Cooper lost to incumbent Kim Allard by just 63 votes.

One man who did not vote for Allard, but voted for both Conti and Cooper said he liked the idea of adding new people to the old mix.

"There's always a need for fresh faces," he said. "And fresh ideas are always good."

Meanwhile, Allard, a four-term incumbent, said she was grateful to squeak into office, and said her campaign was crippled by her being hurt.

Allard spent the entire election season in and out of the hospital for knee surgery and was unable to hit the streets and talk to voters, as she usually does.

"I'm grateful to my family and friends who were out there representing me," Allard said.

GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.