Steve Holmes was re-elected to the Board of Selectmen, and challenger Patrick Tropeano unseated Cara Winslow in the only contested race of Tuesday’s annual town election.

Voter turn-out was extremely low. Holmes took the first Selectmen seat with 823 votes. It was a close race for the second seat, with Tropeano garnering 757 votes and Winslow getting 729. Frank DeFelice received 609 votes.

Of the town’s 15,278 voters, only 1,658 — just more than 10% — cast ballots in the election.

“That’s very low,” said Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva, who was re-elected herself. She noted that 18% of voters cast ballots in last year’s town election, and 15% did so in 2011. In 2010, 26% of voters headed to the polls.

Holmes, of Onset Avenue, said he is excited to embark on his second term.

“We’re pretty excited to win again, so we’re thankful to everyone who came out and voted and worked for us an helped us get to here,” he said. “Over the next three years, I think we need to continue working on business and finance, and I’d like to really get to do some work on elderly housing.”

Tropeano, who served as Selectman from 2002 to 2005, was thrilled.

“It’s awesome the people have given me a terrific chance to really show them what I can do, and I intend to make the best of it,” he said. “I hope to try to deal with the budget issues we’re having ... and hopefully get people to start talking about the good things in town, and not the bad things.”

Tropeano, of Dowd Avenue, said he was inspired to run for Selectman again after receiving support from residents when his young daughter was in a car accident a few years back.

“The people in this town are phenomenal. ... They’re the first ones to say, ‘Come on and let’s see what we can do to help these folks out,’” he said. “I owe them, and I’m going to make sure that I do what they would like to see done. I’m here for them.”

Winslow, who served one term, was succinct about the loss, saying only: “I thoroughly enjoyed serving the citizens of Wareham, and I wish them a bright future.”

Echoing what he said following his unsuccessful run for Selectmen in 2011, DeFelice said Tuesday: “I’m not the loser again. The town’s the loser again.”

But, he added: “I say good luck to the people who got in, and I thank everybody who voted for me.”

Great Neck Road resident Judith Whiteside won a one-year term on the Board of Selectmen in an uncontested race. The opening was created following the resignation of Ellen Begley earlier this year.

“I plan to get sworn in tomorrow afternoon and begin work on reviewing the financial information that will help me get up to speed for Town Meeting,” said Whiteside, who served on the Board of Selectmen in the 1980s, when her last name was “Montminy.”

Whiteside, who spent 23 years in banking before becoming a Wareham High School teacher in 1999, said she hopes to establish Selectman liaisons to the School Committee “so there’s not this ‘we vs. they’ stuff that continues. ... My tax bill doesn’t say, ‘this money goes to the schools and this money goes to the town.’”

Whiteside retired from teaching last year.

In other uncontested races, voters re-elected Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva and Town Moderator Claire Smith.

Silva, who garnered the highest number of votes of anyone — 1,379 — says she plans to retire after this next three-year term.

“My plan is to retire. I’ll be 62 at the end of this term,” she said, quickly noting with a laugh: “But man plans, God laughs!”

Silva added: “I’m very grateful. ... I have to really thank the voters of Wareham, that they have the faith in me to continue the job.”

Smith also thanked the voters for their support.

“I’ve very pleased. I thank people for going out to vote. I wish the [turn-out] was higher ... but thanks to the people who did, and thanks to everybody for running a really good campaign,” Smith said.

Of her plans for her second term, Smith said: “We still have some work to do on Town Meeting to make it a little more expedient and a little more user-friendly, but we’re getting there.”

Also in uncontested races, Roxanne Barboza of Swifts Beach Road earned a three-year term on the Board of Assessors, and Robert Powilatis of Cory Drive won a five-year term on the Housing Authority.

Election results by precinct:

On a mobile phone and looking for plain text results? Click here to see how the election's only contested race -- for two, three-year seats on the Board of Selectmen -- shaped up.