Several San Mateo Co. races still too close to call 1 week after election
SAN MATEO COUNTY – A week after the election, many city council races in San Mateo County remain too close to call with tens of thousands of ballots left to process countywide.
As of late Monday, the countywide voter turnout hovers at 44.7 percent. The county elections division has processed 193,336 ballots, with 58,000 more to count.
In the race for two seats on the East Palo Alto City Council, local teacher Martha Barragan is in third, 38 votes behind the second-place candidate. The leading candidates are Ruben Abrica, a current council member, and Webster Lincoln, a scientist at Genentech. They are also close in votes, each with over 20 percent of the total.
In another race, for the City Council seat in District 2 of Redwood City, Chris Sturken is only two votes behind his competitor Margaret Becker. Sturken, 28, is a planning commissioner and LGBTQ commissioner, the youngest of his competitors. Becker currently serves as the chair of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee. The third challenger, Alison Madden, shares less than 20 percent of the votes.
In Portola Valley, five candidates are vying for the three seats on the Town Council. Judith Hasko, Craig Taylor and Mary Hufty are leading the race, but the fourth-place challenger Craig Hughes, an incumbent, narrowly trails Hufty by 10 votes. The final result is still up in the air as vote counting continues.
Top candidates appear to have more significant leads among the other 30 or so city council races, and the final outcomes are not as much in doubt.
The county plans to release updated results on Tuesday by 4:30 p.m. There will be at least five more releases after Tuesday until the results are certified on Dec. 8.
