TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City's school board will welcome two new members in January, and an incumbent will retain his seat.

Newcomers Julie Puckett and Kelly Hall won four-year terms on the board, earning 4,892 and 4,842 votes, based on unofficial results reported Tuesday night. Their terms begin in January 2010.

The results don't include some voters from Leelanau or Benzie counties who voted in Traverse City's school board races.

Incumbent Gary Appel, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in January, beat challenger Diane Viskochil for a partial term to expire in December 2012.

Appel earned 6,008 votes to Viskochil's 2,881, according to the unofficial results.

Puckett and Hall topped three other candidates for the full terms, including Julie Davis, Mary Ufford Manner and incumbent Suzann Brooke.

Puckett said she wasn't nervous Tuesday because there was nothing more she could do to reach voters.

"I'm very excited and thrilled," she said. "It's kind of what we worked for since August. It just reinforced the good work we were doing."

Hall said she will direct the energy she spent campaigning into meeting staff members, parents and citizens before she takes office in January.

"I'm ecstatic," Hall said. "I really, really worked hard on this campaign."

Appel is eager to continue working on the board, especially since members will be presented with a list of next year's budget cut recommendations in December.

Had he lost, Appel's appointment would have ended once results were certified because it is a partial term.

"We ran an aggressive campaign," he said. "The continuity that I can provide in terms of addressing the complex issues the district is facing is very important."

Brooke, Davis and Viskochil could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Manner said she remains committed to education and will help the district in other ways.

"I ran a pretty low-key campaign," said Manner, who earned 1,479 votes as of 11 p.m. Tuesday. "Whatever the outcome was, it was a good outcome."

Voters interviewed at the polls Tuesday said the district's budget challenges were among key issues this year. Several voters said they sought the advice of others before marking their ballots.

"It's a big job," said Janet Kronk, of Long Lake Township, who declined to reveal her choices.

She said budget challenges and ensuring that children are prepared for the future were her biggest concerns at the polls.

"I'm just concerned about good, quality education for students," Kronk said.

Jon Roth, of Traverse City, supported Puckett and Appel in part because of recommendations from friends who know them.

"This election wasn't really issue-oriented for me," Roth said. "I was more of deciding who I could trust to make good decisions."

Paige Billette said she voted for Viskochil, her former French teacher of two years.

"She was a wonderful teacher, and I think she really has a lot to offer," said Billette, a TCAPS student teacher and East Bay Township resident.

An off-year election and a light ballot in several townships might have contributed to lower turnout, some poll workers said.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, workers in Green Lake Township's two precincts tallied 91 voters between them.

"That's very, very, very slow," said Lisa Zoulek, who served as chairwoman of the precinct at the Interlochen Public Library, where 51 people had cast ballots by early evening. "I think we had 51 people in the first 15 minutes last year."

-- Staff writers Alex Piazza and Brian McGillivary contributed to this report.