SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Kristin Gaspar's lead over incumbent Dave Roberts in their race for a North County seat on the Board of Supervisors increased this weekend, according to a new count released by the Registrar of Voters Office.
Gaspar, the mayor of Encinitas, has a 218 vote lead in the latest tally released at about 5 p.m. Saturday. She had trailed by around 2,200 votes after election night counting but has been gaining ground ever since.
And she trailed by more than 500 votes as recently as Thursday's tally. Her margin grew as more absentee and provisional ballots were counted. Out of almost 195,000 ballots counted so far, the latest count shows 97,519 for Gaspar to 97,301 for Roberts.
About 230,000 absentee and provisional ballots still need to be tallied countywide, according to the registrar's office. It was unclear how many of those were cast in the supervisor's race.
Gaspar's campaign spokesman, Jason Roe, told City News Service after the lead shifted that it could take another week before a winner is determined -- and if the margin is less than 500, a recount could be in order.
"We have been cautiously optimistic since election night," Roe said. "We expected to close the gap."
He said most of their spending was late in the campaign, which is reflected in the post-election night count.
Gary Gartner of the Roberts campaign told CNS, "We are monitoring the results closely. We're optimistic that in the final count, Supervisor Roberts will win the election."
He said they will wait until the final numbers are in before deciding whether to seek a recount.
Another vote tally by the Registrar of Voters Office could be released after 5 p.m. Sunday.
