SMITHFIELD — A federal appeals court has dismissed an appeal by four local voters who contended they were disenfranchised by a flawed ballot in last November’s Town Council election.

The voters had sought to overturn a U.S. District Court decision allowing the certification of the election results, which showed Republican Maxine A. Cavanagh unseating a Democratic incumbent. The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, in Boston, deemed the request moot, noting that the results were certified on Dec. 12, 2008.

The plaintiffs — Democratic voters Joseph M. Bennett, Domenic D’Ambra Jr., Gregory L. Horton and Margaret Mary McCormick — also sought a new election, which the appellate court said “was implicitly denied when the District Court declined to [stop] the certification of the November 2008 election results.” The appellate court declined to address an argument from the voters that the court could decertify the results because, it said, the voters did not request that specific action.

Angel Tavares, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, had yet to speak to his clients, but said they will have to decide how to proceed. He said decertification had not been requested because, at the time of the appeal, the results had not been certified.

“The issue of decertification is one that is still out there,” Tavares said. He continued later: “We have to figure out what makes the most sense for our clients and the voters in the town of Smithfield who were denied one of their five votes for Town Council.”

On Tuesday, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond asked all of the parties in the case to file by July 21 documents telling the court what impact the appellate decision has on the lower court case. One issue still before the District Court is a pivotal one of whether the defective ballots unfairly affected the voters.

Although that matter is pending, Armando Batistini, lawyer for Cavanagh, said he views the appeals court’s decision as a victory.

“Absolutely,” he said. “It means that the 1st Circuit has reviewed this case and on injunctive basis, found plaintiff case was lacking.”

The ballots provided by the state Board of Elections for the Nov. 4 election included the name of Democratic candidate Richard A. DiOrio Jr., who had dropped out of the race in September. The board noticed the error and replaced the ballots with correct ones on Election Day — but not before 575 voters had used the original ones.

Republican Cavanagh defeated Democratic incumbent Bernard A. Hawkins, shifting the political majority on the council to the GOP. After a recount, the Board of Elections affirmed Cavanagh’s victory by a 39-vote margin, 4,151 to Hawkins’ 4,112.

For Hawkins, the matter was done. But the four voters opted to take the fight for a new election up in U.S. District Court. It was the state’s responsibility, the plaintiffs said, to ensure that DiOrio’s name was not on the ballot after he quit the race.

The court initially postponed the results certification, but Judge William E. Smith later rejected the case, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t proven they would prevail if the case went to trial.

Cavanagh, who couldn’t be reached Tuesday for comment, has continued to serve as a member of the council through the litigation.

tbuford@projo.com