Oakland mayoral race: Vote count grinds on; Taylor expands lead over Thao

OAKLAND -- More ballots have been counted in the still-undecided Oakland mayoral race and Councilmember Loren Taylor has slightly expanded his lead.

About 9,500 additional ballots have been processed, on top of the approximately 33,000 counted on Tuesday night. Taylor's lead is now 6.6% over his nearest competitor, Councilmember Sheng Thao.

Election results: Alameda County | Bay Area and California   

The latest round of numbers shows Taylor continuing to lead in both first-place votes and in total votes after those ballots are processed through ranked-choice voting.

The ballots that are now being processed are those that were dropped off on Election Day or received in the mail.

"Tuesday, Election Day, we were focused on the early votes that we were able to prep before Election Day," said Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis. "And then the in-person votes that were cast throughout Election Day. Now we have moved everything over to processing the remaining vote by mail. And like I said, the vast majority of what we received now, and what we're processing color are dropped off on Election Day."

No votes will be counted on Friday. Election officials are hoping to organize a substantial batch of ballots for processing on Monday. Many races will not be decided until those numbers are released.

"It's going to be at least Monday for some of those races," Dupuis said. "Some of the really close races that you're going to be really interested in, are future updates throughout the week, next week."

Taylor and Thao remain from a crowded field of 10 candidates vying to succeed Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who is leaving office.