PALMYRA — A write-in candidate emerged the winner Friday after a ballot inspection and recount of votes cast in the March 13 election for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.

“The recount showed exactly the same thing that the regular vote was initially,” Palmyra Town Clerk Valerie Sprague said after the 8 a.m. recount.

The write-in candidate, Michael Cray, received 78 votes. Former Somerset County Commissioner Robin Frost, who was the lone candidate on the ballot, received 76 votes.

Cray is elected to finish the two years left of a term expiring in 2017 left vacant by the departure of Selectman Brent Hale, who moved out of state.

Sprague and Town Meeting moderator Michael Wiers conducted the recount.

Frost had called for the recount because the Town Meeting vote was so close, Sprague said.

Cray, a school bus driver and former Palmyra selectman, is the brother of Somerset County Commissioner Dean Cray, also of Palmyra. Dean Cray unseated Frost for county commissioner in the November election for the District 3 seat on the five-member board. Dean Cray received 2,523 votes in that election to Frost’s 1,137.

Ronald Rowe also was elected to the Board of Selectman in a three-way race March 13 in the only other contest on the Town Meeting ballot.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

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Twitter: @Doug_Harlow