More than a week after election night, several local races remain too close to call — and one fire district race is a dead heat — as county officials continue to count thousands of ballots.
The closest legislative race is for District 26's Senate seat, where Democrat Charlene Pesquiera holds a lead of less than 1 percent, or 357 votes, over Republican Al Melvin, according to Secretary of State voting numbers Wednesday morning.
Melvin, who beat Republican incumbent Toni Hellon in the primary, refuses to concede the election until every last vote is counted.
Pesquiera said she's pleased that her lead has held. She's trying to keep busy while the final votes are tallied.
Elections officials said Tuesday that thousands of ballots still need to be counted. They hope to have all counting done by Saturday.
People are also reading…
District 26 encompasses the area east of Interstate 10 and north of River Road, stopping at Craycroft Road. It includes Oro Valley and part of the Coronado National Forest, running just above the Pinal County line into SaddleBrooke.
In the District 26 House race, Democrat Lena Saradnik's lead over Republican David Jorgenson has grown to nearly 5,000 votes, earning her 33 percent of the vote to Jorgenson's 28 percent.
Incumbent Republican Pete Hershberger hung onto the district's other seat by winning almost 39 percent of the vote.
Saradnik said she's "on pins and needles" waiting to find out the official results, though she's confident in her lead.
"I'm just excited to get started," she said.
In the District 25 House race, Republican incumbent Jennifer Burns appears to have held off close rivals Democrat Patricia Fleming and Republican Gail Griffin by garnering a little more than 24 percent of the vote.
Griffin and Fleming received 23 percent of the vote and were trailing Burns by 760 votes each. Independent Bill Dore received 1.7 percent of the vote.
The district's second House seat went to Democratic incumbent Manuel V. "Manny" Alvarez, who garnered 27 percent of the vote.
District 25 includes Marana west of Interstate 10 and extends northwest into Maricopa County, south to the Mexican border and southeast across Santa Cruz County. It also includes most of Cochise County.
Burns said she was cautiously optimistic that she would retain her seat. Having had a close race in 2004, Burns said, she's OK with waiting through the weekend to get the results.
"We're going to have to get used to elections taking a while to count," she said.
In the district's Senate race, Democratic incumbent Marsha Arzberger easily beat Republican challenger Mary Ann Black, receiving 58 percent of the vote.
The Northwest Side's closest race is the battle for Avra Valley Fire District's third seat.
Incumbent John Yacks and challenger Luis Castaneda are tied at 21 percent, each receiving 696 total votes.
Incumbents Gary Perry and Harold Young retained the district's other two board seats.
On StarNet: For more election coverage, visit azstarnet.com/politics
