By Linda Taaffe

The race between newcomer Curtis Cole and incumbent Francis La Poll for the third seat on the Los Altos City Council was so tight that election officials were reluctant to declare a winner until Monday, when more of Santa Clara County’s provisional and absentee ballots had been counted. The two were only 163 votes apart Friday, while 800 provisional ballots and 3,000 absentee ballots remained outstanding countywide, said Los Altos City Clerk Susan Kitchens.Kitchens confirmed Monday that Cole had beaten La Poll with 3,663 votes or 17.19 percent of the votes. La Poll had 3,449 votes or 16.18 percent. The registrar’s office had not released an official count, but fewer than 100 absentee ballots from the race remained uncounted, she said.

County officials expect to release final vote counts by the end of the week. The electronic voting machines used countywide for the first time in this month’s elections have sped up the tallying process, Kitchens said.

On election night, David Casas and Ron Packard took early leads. La Poll and Cole remained neck and neck, with La Poll leading at times. There were eight candidates vying for the three, four-year terms on the council.

If La Poll had won, he would have been the first councilmember to have served three consecutive terms since 1978, when voters put guidelines in place to limit residents to two consecutive terms. A term limit law that went into effect after La Poll’s first term prevents future councilmembers from seeking a third term.