Recount has (informally) narrowed McClung’s lead to 8 votes so far

Bonnie McClung’s lead over Mike Ferreira has been reduced to 8 votes in the recount of Half Moon Bay City Council ballots, as of the end of the day Thursday. This is an "informal" count which is not official until the recount is completed.

The counting of absentee ballots yielded more votes for all candidates, as the counters discovered many ballots with markings so faint that they were not captured by the optical scanners that read them.  Mike Ferreira gained seven more votes from these sources than did Bonnie McClung.

Non-absentee ballots are easier to count, less likely to have these kinds of errors,  and less likely to yield additional votes. At the end of the day on Thursday, all absentee ballots had been counted and the recount of non-absentee ballots had been completed for two of eight precincts. The recount is expected to be completed Friday.

Also in play are four additional challenged ballots, with five additional votes at stake, which could become the subject of dispute if the gap between the candidates narrows further.