Frugoli’s lead dips to 393 in final stages of count in Marin DA race

With 10,631 additional votes counted since Friday, Lori Frugoli’s lead over Anna Pletcher in the race for Marin County district attorney has now shrunk to less than half a percent.

Frugoli, a longtime Marin County deputy district attorney, now leads Pletcher, who spent a decade working as prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco, by just 393 votes.

Frugoli’s lead has been dwindling steadily with each new update; the day after the election Frugoli led by 2,560 votes, about 4 percentage points.

Marin County Registrar of Voters Lynda Roberts said about 3,500 votes remain to be counted. Results will be announced Monday.

“We knew from the start that this would be a really close race,” Pletcher said. “That’s exactly what we are seeing now. I am encouraged to be gaining ground and am honored to have received the support of so many Marin residents.”

Contacted before the latest count was released, Andre Charles, Frugoli’s campaign manager, said, “We remain confident because our campaign concentrated on issues and experience, and our conduct was ethical and truthful throughout. Marin voters reward that.”

Charles calculated that Frugoli needed to get at least 39 percent of the remaining uncounted votes, and he said so far throughout the updates she had gotten 47 percent to 48 percent of the vote.

There are several other local races with candidates competing for three open slots where fortunes have shifted as late votes have come in.

The Sausalito Marin City School District board race has seen a seesaw between Bonnie Rose Hough and Jennifer Conway for third place. Hough is now back in the lead by just 3 votes.

In the other tight races, none of the leaders have changed since Friday.

Kevin Saavedra leads Barbara McVeigh by 1,124 votes in the contest for the third open seat on the Tamalpais Union High School District board.

In the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District board race, Rabi Elias now leads Russ Greenfield by 44 votes in the battle for the third open seat on the board.

In the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District board race,  Stephen Marcotte leads Stephen O’Neal by 60 votes in the contest for third place and a seat on the board.

And in the race between three candidates for two open seats on the Sanitary District No. 5 board, Omar Arias-Montez trails second-place finisher Tod Moody by 16 votes.

None of the high-profile local measures on the Nov. 6 ballot — such as Measure W, which will increase the transient occupancy tax for hotels and short-term rentals from 10 percent to 14 percent — finished close enough to be in doubt. With the new votes added, Measure W, which requires two-thirds support to pass, now has 73.60 percent of the vote.

Measure AA, which would renew the county’s existing half-cent sales tax for 30 years to pay for transportation-related expenses, also requires two-thirds support to pass. It now has 76.57 percent of the vote. Measure J, Tamalpais Union High School District’s parcel tax proposal, which requires two-thirds support, now has 73.98 percent of the vote.