The Ramona Municipal Water District board of directors will decide Tuesday how to fill the Division 3 board seat for the next two or four years.

Incumbent Director Thomas N. Ace, one of two candidates running for a four-year seat, won the Nov. 3 election according to the final tally called Dec. 3 by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. But Ace died in late October at age 73, after voting had already begun.

Ace, who had served on the Ramona water board for six years after a 28-year career with the Lakeside Fire Protection District, earned 1,766 votes while challenger Rex Schildhouse, a retired Navy officer, got 1,654 votes. Schildhouse, elected to the board in 2013, resigned the following year.