Only 140 votes separate incumbent Edel Alonso from challenger Scott Schauer in the race for a seat on the College of the Canyons governing board following Tuesday’s update from L.A. County.
Alonso, currently the president of the Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees, has 11,377 votes compared to 11,237 for Schauer. Alonso has 50.31% of the vote.
Schauer is seeking to join the other three members of his slate — Fred Arnold, Sharlene Johnson and Darlene Trevino — who look like they will be certified as the winners of their races for COC board seats once the county certifies the election on Dec. 5.
The race has been one of the tightest in the Santa Clarita Valley. Schauer led by nearly 370 votes two days after the polls closed on Nov. 5, only for Alonso to take the lead. She has led by as many as 200 votes, that coming on Thursday, and led by 143 on Monday.
The other close race is for the Santa Clarita City Council District 1 seat. Planning Commissioner Patsy Ayala is leading Bryce Jepsen by 433 votes after Tuesday’s update, representing 35.6% of the counted ballots. Jepsen has 4,118 votes (32.28%) and Tim Burkhart, also a planning commissioner for the city, is at 4,098 votes (32.12%).
Ayala said Monday she was encouraged by the way the results have been trending but is respecting the process and not declaring victory after not yet receiving a concessionary call from either of her opponents as of Monday evening.
It is unknown how many local ballots remain to be counted for SCV races.
Countywide, 3,775,729 have been processed, including 11,665 from Tuesday’s update. An estimated 32,300 ballots remain to be counted.
The next update from the county is expected on Thursday.
