Barbara Klausner, Melissa Baten Caswell, and Camille Townsend gained seats on the Palo Alto Board of Education last night amid a unique celebration involving most of the school board and City Council candidates at the Garden Court Hotel.

With 46,634 votes counted, Klausner received 29.51 percent, Caswell received 20.14 percent, Townsend took third with 17.26 percent, Wynn Hausser had 16.39 percent, Claude Ezran had 12.22 percent, and Pingyu Liu had 4.49 percent. Only 30.79 percent of registered voters voted either by mail or in person.

Klausner, who took an early lead in the vote counting, said: “It is an endeavor to run for a local office.” But she was happy with her campaign and how it was run. Her favorite part was meeting and seeing all the people who are involved in the community she said, especially “seeing new faces that cared.”

Caswell said she is happy with how her campaign fared. “I am relieved it is over,” she said. Her daughter, Lainie, was at the party cheering for Caswell. “Last night I wasn’t sure what to do with myself,” Caswell said. Now that her campaign has come to a close, Caswell says that she is starting to feel tired. All the forums and morning coffees, plus trying to keep up with her family was not the easiest job she says, adding “[but] I really enjoyed it.”

Townsend, who was running in a close third with Hausser, said, “My campaign went quite well,” and she hopes for the best. Townsend is the only incumbent and has been president of the school board during the controversial year dealing with Mandarin Immersion and middle management controversies. Mandy Lowell, retiring school board member, said, “Incumbents are rarely the top vote getters. The new people benefit from the buzz and excitement, while incumbents usually come in second or third.”

“I have prepared for every part and detail of the campaign,” said Hausser. “But [waiting for the results] is not my favorite part.” He says he is very optimistic, and he has to “hold on for the ride” while he waits for the results.

Liu said, “This has been a brand new experience for me and I learned a lot.” Liu is at the rear of the polls, but he does not seem deterred. “It was important for me to participate.”

Claude Ezran did not participate in the candidate election party.