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A political newcomer and a political veteran will be joining the Leitchfield City Council, after voters Tuesday returned only four of the six incumbents.

Longtime council members Kelly Stevenson and Leon Shaw fell short in their bids for re-election, finishing eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 12-person race.

As in the May primary election, Margaret Alvey-Fey was the top finisher, receiving 1,038 votes, according to unofficial final totals from the Grayson County Clerk’s office. Raymond “Tooty” Cottrell was second with 852 votes, with political newcomer Harold Thomas Miller a close third with 837 votes.

Former council member Jerry Schlosser was fourth, with 786 votes. Incumbents Steven Elder and Billy Dallas finished fifth and sixth, with 773 votes and 758 votes.

Newcomer Margie Decker finished seventh, with 735 votes. Stevenson received 727, and Shaw garnered 618.

Political first-timer Nick Ramsey finished tenth, with 559 votes, followed by Rick Minton with 536 votes and Clayton Miller with 519.

“I’m certainly disappointed,” Stevenson said of the results late Tuesday. “I felt like I ran a good, honest race and kept above all the negativity.”

He offered his congratulations to the winners, and said he hopes the city continues to progress over the next two years.

Shaw also offered his congratulations to the winners and expressed hope that the city will continue moving forward.

“I just came up short,” he said of the results. “It’s just one of those things.”

He speculated the city’s 3 percent restaurant tax, which he voted for, might have played a role in people’s votes, but said he wasn’t sure.

Schlosser speculated the restaurant tax — which he campaigned against — and “the spending going on at city hall” had a definite role in winning him a seat at the table.

“We’re in a tough economy,” he said. “We don’t need a $5 million swimming pool when people are having a tough time paying their bills.”

He said he’s standing by his campaign pledge to move to repeal the restaurant tax at his first council meeting. “I didn’t say that just to get elected,” Schlosser said.

He said the race was “the toughest city council race I can remember, and I was in my 20s the first time I was elected.”

Miller could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

In the Grayson County school board races, incumbent Valeria Hayes-Hicks retained her 1st District seat, defeating challenger Matthew Wiseman 643-556, according to unofficial final results.

In the 2nd District, incumbent Charlotte Gower also was re-elected, with 624 votes to challenger Bill Allen’s 551.

Carolyn Thomason, who was running unopposed for the 4th District seat, received 1,254 votes.

In the Caneyville City Commission races, the unopposed incumbents all retained their seats. Janice Minton recived 105 votes, according to unofficial final results, Deborah Embry received 110 votes, Scott Majors received 98 votes, and Connie Gootee received 104.

Clarkson’s city commissioners were also running unopposed and retained their seats. Scotty Gore received 148 votes, according to unofficial final results, while Keith Higdon received 151. Kay Gibson received the most votes, 162, and Bob Vincent received 147.

Grayson County Clerk Sherry Weedman said the turnout was higher than the 43 percent she’d predicted. In all, 9,442 of the county’s 17,634 registered voters went to the polls, for a turnout of almost 54 percent.

Stacie Blain, who was running unopposed for Grayson County Circuit Clerk, received 5,497 votes, according to unofficial final totals.

State and national races were mostly still up for grabs Tuesday evening, although some had been called.

Incumbent C.B. Embry Jr., who was running unopposed for the state House’s 17th District seat, had received 13,077 votes, according to unofficial final results from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website. With five out of six counties reporting, state Sen. Carroll Gibson, who was running unopposed in his bid to return to the 5th District seat, had 29,233 votes.

David M. Williams, who was running unopposed for Commonwealth Attorney in the 46th Judicial Circuit, received 20,095 votes, according to unofficial final results from the Secretary of State’s website.

With 107 of 120 counties reporting, the Constitutional amendment on hunting rights was stalking victory with 1,160,646 “yes” votes - 84 percent, according to unofficial final results.

In the 2nd Congressional District race, with 17 of 21 counties reporting, incumbent Brett Guthrie was leading with 120,045 votes, or about 64 percent. Democrat challenger David Lynn Williams had 59,586 votes, or about 32 percent. Independent candidate Andrew Beacham and Libertarian candidate Craig Astor each had about 2 percent of the vote, with 4,320 and 3,419 ballots respectively.

At about 9:45 p.m. ABC News was projecting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was leading in the popular vote, with 33.1 million compared to Barack Obama’s 31.6 million votes. Obama, however, had the electoral vote edge with 173 to Romney’s 163. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

In Kentucky, with 107 of 120 counties reporting, Romeny had 60 percent of the vote - 975,115 - to Obama’s 38 percent, or 612,621 votes. The Green, Independent and Libertarian candidates each had less than 1 percent of the statewide vote.

In Grayson County, Romney captured 69 percent of the ballots, with 6,404 votes, according to unofficial final totals. Obama received 2,744 votes, or about 30 percent.