The margin narrowed again Tuesday between candidates Zach Courser and Ed Reece in the Claremont City Council race.

According to the LA County Registrar-Recorder, just 44 votes separate Mr. Courser and Mr. Reece for the third-place spot. According to Claremont city clerk Shelley Desautels, there are 990 ballots left to tally for Claremont. Those final votes should be posted on Friday, November 16 between 4 and 5 p.m. at lavote.net. Ms. Desautels, in an email, stated that the county didn’t indicate what number of votes remaining were provisional and how many were vote by mail.

On the morning of Tuesday, November 7, results showed Mr. Reece with 4,383 votes or 18.33 percent of the vote. Mr. Courser trailed at 4,273  or 17.87 percent, causing some locals to declare Mr. Reece the winner on social media. Within hours, the city clerk confirmed that there were as many as 3,000 Claremont ballots left to tally. On Friday, November 9, the LA County Registrar-Recorder updated its website, which narrowed the margin to 88 votes—4,644 votes for Mr. Reece and 4,556 for Mr. Courser—with 1546 provisional and 703 vote-by-mail ballots still up for grabs.

Even with the candidates just 44 votes apart, there is no automatic recount generated by the county. A recount would come only at the request of a candidate or voter.

At least a portion of the final 990 ballots should be counted and posted to the county website this Friday. The county has 30 days to certify the final results.

Check back at the COURIER website at claremont-courier.com for more results this Friday night.

—Kathryn Dunn

editor@claremont-courier.com