SCARBOROUGH -- Voters narrowly rejected a proposal to allow the Scarborough Downs harness race track to operate slot machines, a result that was delayed because of a voting machine error Tuesday night.

According to unofficial results released by the town just after noon, the proposal for a racino was defeated, 5,804 to 5,565.

The vote count was delayed when a tabulating machine broke down shortly after polls closed Tuesday night. The problem forced town officials to re-count absentee ballots that they had almost finished tabulating when the machine reset itself to zero and delayed the release of election results by more than 12 hours.

Voters also re-elected Ronald D. Ahlquist to the town council, returned Shawn A. Babine to the council after a one-year absence and elected Karen A. D'Andrea as a councilor. The three won in a five-way race for the council.

In legislative races, Sean Peter Flaherty defeated incumbent John F. McDonough in the House 127 race and Peggy A. Pendleton was re-elected in District 128, defeating challenger Artemas M. Pickard.

In an advisory referendum, voters also rejected a proposal to have school officials to consider a new mascot for the high school's sports teams to replace the current "Red Storm." That vote was 5,396 against and 5,096 in favor.