TIVERTON — In an election marked by a significantly low voter turnout, nine people were chosen for the Charter Review Commission on Tuesday.

About 10,000 voters could have participated in Tuesday’s election for the Charter Review Commission, but only 229 ballots were cast, said Town Clerk Nancy Mello.

“It was even lower than I thought it would be. I don’t think the commission generated that much interest this year,” Mello said.

The commission will be expected to evaluate the usefulness of the Financial Town Meeting, an issue that has been brought up over the past few years most notably by Town Councilman Brian Medeiros. Commission members will ultimately decide whether the Town Meeting will remain a part of Tiverton town government or be abolished.

Tuesday’s ballot presented six candidates to voters, with blank spaces for write-in votes. All of the candidates were elected, in addition to three others who won with write-ins.

Former library employee Frank Richard Joslin, III brought in the most votes with 167. He was just one vote ahead of Diane Harris and Cecil E. Leonard, who both garnered 166 each. Deborah A. Paullasch and Laura Epke, two active citizens who often attend and speak out in Town Council and School Committee meetings, came in not far behind, with 165 and 163 votes, respectively. Former Tax Collector Robert J. Koohy brought in 145 votes.

Stanley Zeramby led the pack for the write-in candidates with 78 votes. Raymond Medeiros and Frank Marshall were also elected from a total of 62 write-in candidates.

Of the nine, Harris and Marshall have served on a previous Charter Review Commission. Others have been notably involved with town government, including Leonard, who is a former town treasurer.

The last election for the Charter Review Commission was in September 2003. Then, 688 residents cast votes. Harris said that an election in September probably would have pulled in more voters — many are on vacation during the summer.

Mello shares the attitude and thinks that publicity could have been better. Although the town started publicizing the election a week earlier than legally necessary, the two newspaper advertisements did not seem to help. There were also announcements put up in eight locations, including Town Hall.

“A lot of people just didn’t seem to know there was an election going on,” she said.

ndungca@projo.com