Grafton County Treasurer Carol Elliott yesterday attributed her defeat on Election Day to "brainwashed" college students who voted for the Democratic ticket, and she asserted that most "real people" backed her candidacy.

The 66-year-old Plymouth Republican also said she would not seek a recount but referred to the 20-year-old Dartmouth College student who defeated her by about 500 votes as a "teenybopper."

"I look back over my years of service very proudly, and I'm glad I had the chance to serve the public while New Hampshire was New Hampshire, and the real people in this election, they voted Lynn Wheeler and myself in," Elliott said in a phone interview yesterday, her first public comment since the election.

Elliott lost her post to Dartmouth junior Vanessa Sievers, a Montana native and Democrat who targeted voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University through a $42 ad on the website Facebook.

Sievers won 21,389 votes in the county to 20,803 for Elliott. Sievers's largest margin of victory was in Hanover, home to Dartmouth, where she defeated Elliott by 2,438 votes. The Democrat also won 411 more votes than Elliott did in Plymouth, home to Plymouth State University.

Elliott lives in Plymouth and was the town clerk there for 18 years before becoming Grafton County Register of Deeds about two decades ago. She was allied with Wheeler, a former Haverhill selectwoman who ran as a Republican in an unsuccessful bid to unseat Register of Deeds Bill Sharp, a Lebanon Democrat who narrowly won a second term. Sharp's margin of victory in Hanover, Plymouth and Lebanon proved the difference in the race.

Elliott yesterday said the heavy college turnout doomed her candidacy.

"With a 600-vote (margin), it was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," she said.

Hanover registered 2,436 new voters this year, and David Imamura, the president of Dartmouth College Democrats, yesterday said 2,268 Dartmouth College students voted in the election, about 30 percent of Hanover's record turnout.

Town officials yesterday confirmed more than 2,000 Dartmouth students voted in the election and said that number set a record.

Sievers could not be reached for comment yesterday, but Imamura said she and other active Dartmouth Democrats went door-to-door on campus to tell students about candidates on the ballot other than Barack Obama and U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen, the victors in the Nov. 4 races.

"I think Dartmouth students have a genuine interest in how government works in New Hampshire," Imamura said. "It wasn't just us going out there saying, 'Vote straight Democratic.' . . . It was a big effort to educate Dartmouth students about why they should vote down ticket."

Sievers is to assume the part-time county treasurer's post, which pays $6,408 annually, in January. The job involves having "custody of all moneys belonging to the county and (the treasurer) shall pay out the same only upon orders of the (county) commissioners," according to New Hampshire law.

County money can be invested in a "public deposit investment pool" established by state law, by federal government bonds, or in federally insured banks, including out-of-state banks if the county deposits are met with collateral security from the chosen institution, according to state statutes.

Elliott said that she had to invest $17 million last December when property-tax revenue was received by the county from towns but that she also has recently had to borrow about $8 million in short-term money because of what she deemed excessive county spending. Elliott said the county was able to borrow the money at a 2.11 percent interest rate from Northway Bank, which is based in the North Country.

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