When the polls closed last Tuesday, it looked as if the Republican candidate for City Council's District 7, Scott Sherman, had avoided a runoff and won the election outright.
But as absentee votes continue to come in, Sherman's lead over his opponent Mat Kostrinsky has narrowed.
Sherman is now just 56 votes away from a November runoff election. According to vote tallies released Monday at 5 p.m., Sherman had 2,902 votes more than Kostrinsky.
That's 50.19 percent of the vote, a significant lead over Kostrinsky's 40.37 percent. But Sherman needs to maintain a lead of 50 percent plus one vote to avoid having to run against Kostrinsky again in November.
There are 26,000 absentee ballots left to be counted, but the County Registrar of Voters has not released how many of those ballots fall in the City Council's District 7.
The Republican Sherman's candidacy was supported by mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio, while Kostrinsky is a favorite of the city's labor unions.
