BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Town Clerk Fran Smith started the Town Council recount process for District 6 Wednesday by remarking that “every vote counts.”

And every vote was counted, over a period of about three and a half hours, in the council chambers Wednesday morning.

Representatives of incumbent Nathaniel Shed and newcomer Ramona Thieme, whose race came down to just one vote on Election Day, sorted hundreds of ballots by hand under the supervision of town staff.

In the end, Thieme was confirmed as the winner by two votes, 479-477. Last Tuesday’s results had given her a one-vote lead, 478-477.

Both candidates were on-site on Wednesday watching from the sidelines and were occasionally called in by the clerk to come to an agreement or dispute ballots questioned by the counters.

Only one ballot was formally disputed, but the candidates ended up agreeing to count it as an “overvote,” meaning it appeared the voter erroneously chose both candidates, so it went to neither.

Thieme, who will be sworn in in January, said she looks forward to serving District 6.

“I thought the process itself was very smooth and well-orchestrated,” Thieme said of Wednesday’s recount. “I’m obviously very happy with the outcome having come out ahead, and I think both of us candidates also worked well together in coming to a friendly agreement.”

Each candidate had four volunteer counters to represent them during the recount. Tristram Howard, of Brunswick, volunteered to count ballots on behalf of Thieme. Howard was impressed by Thieme at a “Meet the Candidates” event before the election.

“On Election Day, when the votes came back at there was exactly one vote of difference, I figured (Thieme) might need volunteers,” he said.

Howard took the day off from work in anticipation of a long day of counting.

“Somebody has to do it,” he said.

About halfway through the count, Howard’s counting group had encountered some stray marks and improperly completed ballots that could have been misread by a voting machine, but human eyes were able to determine the voter’s intentions, he said.

After the volunteers tallied their results, the candidates had a chance to review and confirm the counts before Smith announced Thieme as the winner. If the two candidates had tied, the town would have had to have held a special election.

Thieme, who runs an IT support business, told The Times Record in September that some of her highest priorities on the council are increasing affordability and housing availability, and ensuring safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Shed, a retired nonprofit professional, sought a second term this year. He told The Times Record in September that his highest priorities on the council include increasing the housing stock, maintaining downtown Brunswick, managing the town and school budgets effectively, and implementing the town’s Climate Action Plan.

Thieme’s campaign was supported by the Brunswick Renters Organization and Maine Democratic Socialists of America and centered on housing. While she has said she would support a form of rent control in town, Shed said the town should focus on adding housing supply, though he would support a policy to curb rent increases at Brunswick’s mobile home parks.

On Wednesday following the recount, Thieme said some of her first priorities on the council will be addressing these housing issues.

“I’m definitely looking to get on to the Housing Committee, pursuing something around short-term rental regulations, starting the process of talking about some sort of rent control, especially taking into account mobile home parks,” Thieme said.

“Generally, there’s going to be a long process of learning the dynamics of the council,” she added. “We also have to start the year with the budget, which takes a lot of our focus.”

Last week, Brunswick voters also selected Richard Ellis and Corinne Perreault to lead Districts 1 and 4, respectively. Ellis will fill the seat formerly held by David Watson, who is retiring from the council, and Perreault won a special election for Chairperson Sande Updegraph’s seat, which she plans on giving up at the end of November.

In addition to the three contested council races, voters also reelected District 2 Councilor James Ecker, who was unopposed. On the school board, three unopposed candidates — Elizabeth Ketner, Beth Bisson and Elizabeth Sokoloff — secured their spots Nov. 4.