Eight Orange County races stay close as ballot counting continues

Eight mayoral and city council races in Orange County remained close Friday, with margins ranging from 12 to 221 votes as nearly 221,000 ballots awaited counting countywide, according to Voice of OC.

The unresolved contests span mayoral races in Santa Ana, Westminster and Tustin and council seats in five other cities. Several candidates have traded leads since election night, leaving the reported advantages provisional as counting continues.

Voice of OC, citing the Orange County Registrar of Voters, reported that more than 154,000 ballots had been counted countywide as of 5:11 p.m. Friday. Nearly 221,000 remained to be processed; that total covers the county, not just the close contests.

In Santa Ana, Mayor Valerie Amezcua held a 140-vote advantage over attorney Dan Shimell. Her lead had shrunk to 0.27% from roughly 13% on election night, according to Voice of OC. Westminster Councilman Carlos Manzo was 167 votes ahead of incumbent Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen after moving ahead by two votes Thursday.

Former Tustin Mayor Letitia Clark led incumbent Austin Lumbard by 221 votes. The lead in that race had changed hands twice since election night, Voice of OC reported.

In Irvine’s District 1 council race, incumbent Melinda Liu was ahead of John Park by 142 votes, while former Mayor Sukhee Kang was third. In Fullerton’s District 5 contest, Oscar Valadez held a 33-vote lead over Jozef Maldonado.

Daniel Morgan led Cara Stewart by 36 votes in Costa Mesa’s District 3 race. Voice of OC reported a 52-vote advantage for Amy Stevens over Shari Rhodes in Lake Forest’s District 4 contest, though the article’s listed vote shares were inconsistent with its reported margin.

Cypress District 2 candidate Helen Le regained the lead Friday and was 12 votes ahead of incumbent Bonnie Peat, according to Voice of OC. It was the smallest reported gap among the eight contests.

The next results update was expected at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to Voice of OC. Friday’s figures identified leaders, not final winners.