Election 2012
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  • Hector Amezcua / hamezcua@sacbee.com

    As of Friday, former Councilman Rob Kerth, shown at his family's ice rink on Del Paso Boulevard, had 51 percent to Allen Warren's 49 percent.

  • Hector Amezcua / hamezcua@sacbee.com

    City Council candidate Allen Warren talks with supporters earlier this week about his tight northern Sacramento race with former Councilman Rob Kerth.

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Two Sacramento City Council races still too close to call

Published: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

There still isn't clarity in the races for Sacramento's two open City Council seats.

Both contests remained too close to call on Friday following an updated vote tally by Sacramento County elections officials. Elections spokesman Brad Buyse said there are roughly 94,000 votes left to tally in the county, with the next update scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

"With these contests that are so close and with a good chunk of outstanding votes left to tabulate, it's just too early to make a decision," he said.

The closer of the races was in the District 4 seat representing Land Park, the Central City and the River Oaks section of South Natomas.

Architect Joe Yee surpassed biotech firm manager Steve Hansen in the most recent returns, but held just a 46-vote margin. That difference was after nearly 20,000 votes had been counted; the campaigns estimated at least another 4,000 votes remain to be tallied.

Hansen had held a 28-vote advantage in results released earlier this week. In an email to supporters, he said, "This is a small swing, and it's important to not read much into the ups or downs."

In northern Sacramento, Rob Kerth, the area's former councilman, increased his lead over developer Allen Warren. Kerth has 51 percent to Warren's 49 percent with 9,460 votes counted, a difference of 215 votes.

"It's good to see it heading in the right direction," Kerth said. "There are a lot of votes still out there, but it's gratifying to have the support of so many folks in my community."

Meanwhile, "the Claw" is hanging on by a fingernail.

Measure T – which would let the city require the use of green waste bins – led 51 percent to 49 percent. If it passes, the city plans to scale back its regular leaf collection by the Claw.

The count was closer than many observers expected, given that just 10 percent of city residents still rely upon the Claw for weekly green waste collection.

Kerth said he had assumed Measure T would pass, but was pleasantly surprised by the outcome so far.

"The folks who don't use (the Claw), what's their incentive for saying we're going to stop other people from having that option?" he said.

Two school board races in Sacramento County are also undecided.

Natomas Unified incumbent Susan Heredia is fewer than 400 votes ahead of her closest challenger – Ryan Herche – in a hotly contested race for three seats. Heredia had 4,726 votes and Herche had 4,349 as of Friday.

Trailing behind Herche are Scott Dosick with 4,114 votes, Karen Bernal with 3,817 votes and Bruce Roberts with 3,520 votes.

Pam Costa has clearly won one of the three seats on the San Juan Unified school board, with 50,875 votes in an at-large election.

But things get a little tighter in the race for the last two seats, with about 2,000 votes between each candidate. Saul Hernandez, with 32,042 votes, and incumbent Lucinda Luttgen, with 30,180 votes, are currently in the running for the seats. But Mike McKibbin, who has 28,275 votes, or Mark Lennon with 27,302 could still come back to win when all the ballots are counted.

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