DOWNTOWN — A close election got closer late on Tuesday, with updated results showing five-term City Councilman Bob Holbrook leading challenger Ted Winterer by 61 votes — fewer than .1 percent of those cast in the contest.
At the time of the previous update from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Friday, Holbrook had led by 121 votes.
It was unclear by deadline Tuesday how many ballots, if any, remained to be counted.
But based on vote totals, it was evident that at least 4,505 ballots had been processed since initial election results were posted on Nov. 3, at which time county election officials had said there were an estimated 5,954 ballots outstanding.
Reached Tuesday evening, Winterer said he remained hopeful.
“I’m encouraged to be gaining ground, but it’s frustrating that the county is not giving us information on the number of ballots that have been counted and whether they’re absentee or provisional,” he said. “And they’re not telling us how many votes remain to be counted.”
An attempt to reach Holbrook Tuesday evening was not successful.
As of deadline Tuesday, Holbrook had 11,916 votes, compared with Winterer’s 11,855. The candidates were ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the race for three four-year terms on the City Council.
The results showed a gain of 1,076 votes for Holbrook and a gain of 1,136 for Winterer since Friday’s election update.
nickt@www.smdp.com
