The race for the third seat on the Manhattan Beach City Council remained close as of Tuesday afternoon's update, with Joe Franklin continuing to lead Grettel Fournell with less than 100 votes.

As of 2:28 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, the official count showed Franklin with 7,846 votes (14.91%) and Fournell with 7,763 votes (14.75%) - a difference of just 83 votes.

Incumbents Steve Napolitano and Richard Montgomery currently hold a solid lead for the top two spots, with 12,176 votes (23.14%) and 10,124 votes (19.24%), respectively.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk is expected to provide vote count updates again on Friday Nov. 20, Tuesday Nov. 24, Friday Nov. 27, and Monday Nov. 30. On each of those days, the updates will be concluded between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. and posted online after that.
Manhattan Beach City Clerk Liza Tamura told DigMB that county has 30 days to certify the election, which would bring the final date to December 3.

The top three finishers will join Hildy Stern and Suzanne Hadley on the council. Current council member Nancy Hersman did not run for re-election. 

The race for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District school board remains close as well. 

As of Tuesday, November 17, Cathey Graves and Jason Boxer continue to lead the race, with 10,207 votes (32.03%) and 7,646 votes (23.99%), respectively. 

Close behind is Mike Brunick, with 7,336 votes (23.02%) and Heather de Roos with 6,679 votes (20.96%).