Staff Writer 

 Nearly 1,000 Cape Elizabeth residents traveled to the polls to cast their vote in a special referendum to fill the vacant town council seat left by former council chair Mary Ann Lynch in November. 

According to the town clerk’s unofficial results Wednesday morning, Cape Farm Alliance Chairman Penny Jordan will take Lynch’s seat until December, 2010. Jordan, who won with 569 votes, said she spent the entire day with Zoning Board of Appeals member James Walsh, who lost by a 169-vote margin.

“It was a really great day, I got to know Jim Walsh and he is such a nice guy,” Jordan said. “When people walked through the door they said it was a tough decision.”

Also on the ballot was a Portland Water District Representative seat, with Cape Elizabeth resident Mark Duval ran for unopposed. He received 81 votes in South Portland and 792 votes in Cape Elizabeth.

According to the unofficial results, 12 percent of the Cape Elizabeth registered voters participated in the referendum.