As of Friday, November 16, Zach Courser and Ed Reece are now 21 votes apart in the Claremont City Council race, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder.

Last Tuesday, the county estimated it had 990 ballots remaining in Claremont. But, according to Claremont City Clerk Shelley Desautels, they counted 1,454 ballots in the last update. Mr. Reece currently has 5,622 votes, while Mr. Courser has 5,601. She said in an email there are 415 ballots left to count for Claremont—250 provisional and 165 vote-by-mail—that will be posted Tuesday afternoon.

“This is also an estimate of what is left to count for Claremont,” the city clerk shared. “There may be some more (although thought to be very few) after tomorrow’s count.”

The county expects to provide another update on Friday, and then again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, with plans to certify all results by November 30th.

Recounts are not automatically generated by the county, but are conducted at the request of a candidate or voter, who also must pay for the recount.

Elections officials determine a deposit amount necessary to cover daily costs of a recount. The voter filing the request must deposit, before the start of the recount and again at the beginning of each day following, the money required to cover daily costs.

“If upon completion of the recount the results are reversed, the deposit shall be returned,” according to the Registrar-Record’s website.

According to election officials, the average cost per day for “one board,” like the Claremont city council election, is $5,054.71 for labor, equipment, materials and staff time. There is no indication how many days a recount would take for the Claremont election.

Voters can expect another update from the county on Tuesday, November 20 after 3:30 p.m.

—Kathryn Dunn

editor@claremont-courier.com