WARWICK — With mail ballots not to be counted until Wednesday morning, there is no definitive winner in the four-way race for two seats on the School Committee, but Chairman Christopher E. Friel held a comfortable lead with polling place tallies.

According to results from the state Board of Elections, Friel had 14,480 votes, which put him 1,385 votes ahead of second-place finisher Patrick E. Maloney Jr.

Applications for mail ballots in the city numbered 2,187. The amount that was actually returned will not be known until they are counted by the state.

Friel’s 1,300-plus lead makes him relatively safe, making the real question be who will secure the second city-wide seat on the school board.

Maloney has only a 178-vote lead over Kevin J. McAteer, who earned 12,917 votes at the polls.

Kevin Oliver, a maintenance worker for the Warwick School District for 35 years, was in fourth place. He garnered 11,294 votes, which put him 1,623 votes behind McAteer and unable to touch Friel’s 3,186-vote lead.

Maloney, McAteer and Oliver are first-time candidates. A father of three young children, Maloney decided to run for the school board after volunteering in parent activities at the John Francis Brown Elementary School.

McAteer, a retired Warwick school bus driver, said he wanted to find creative funding sources for the financially strapped district ,including the possibility of selling signage rights to private businesses for certain school facilities.

Oliver worked for the school district’s maintenance department for 35 years until he lost his job this spring due to budget cuts. Active in fundraising for charities in the Oakland Beach area, Oliver said that while the loss of his job hurt, his main motivation in running for the school board is the future of his nine grandchildren.

Friel, a lawyer, has said that he wanted a second term so he could continue to try to help the district with its financial struggles and also get to the bottom of some disturbing problems. Friel had to help shepherded the district through the closing of three elementary schools this year, and said he is particularly concerned that the district had an unexpected $2-plus million deficit for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The district is also facing a projected deficit for the current school year that could be upward of to $4 million.

bpoliche@projo.com