VINALHAVEN – When the election night stir ended Tuesday, Bodine Ames and Eric Davis had won the two vacant seats on the Board of Selectmen. Ames garnered the most votes with 206, while Davis won a seat with 190 votes.

The resignations of Chairwoman Emily Lane and Selectman Albert Ames created the vacancies. The new selectmen will fill those unexpired terms, which end in June 2003.

The race had attracted considerable interest, with five candidates vying for the positions.

Retiree John Van Ness, who ran as a write-in candidate, got 146 votes. Robert “Richie” Walker, a lobsterman, earned 129 votes, and Kevin Michael, an elder care worker, received 63 votes.

Before the election, Ames, 66, who has lived on the island for 40 years, said she wanted to become a selectman because she cared deeply for the community and wanted to be involved in solving the issues facing the town. She is a member of the park commission and the Lane’s Island Nature Preserve.

Davis, 44, was a selectman in the late 1980s, but he wanted another opportunity to serve the town. He also has served on numerous town boards and committees, as well as having worked for the town on the road department and as foreman of the transfer station. The native islander is a self-employed lobsterman.