Incumbent Todd Gestrin led challenger Nichole Piland in a near-dead heat, separated by six votes, in the race for Lebanon Community School District’s Zone 5 seat as of noon Wednesday.
Gestrin had 1,314 votes (49.7%) and Piland had 1,308 (49.47%) with 22 write-in votes for others.
Tom Oliver, unchallenged in Zone 2, and Michael Martin, unchallenged for the Zone 3 seats, both had received over 98% of the votes cast for those voting areas.
That was also the case for Wyatt King, the sole candidate for Lebanon Rural Fire Protection District Position 2, and incumbents Dale White (Position 3), and Michael Schrader (Position 4), all with similar tallies.
Derrick Sterling, Linn County supervisor of elections, said the county is waiting for any Linn County ballots that were deposited in other counties, and for voters who did not sign their blue ballot submission envelopes to be contacted and given the opportunity to confirm their vote.
In a typical election, he said, the number of those can reach the hundreds, he said, noting that those numbers can change the outcomes in close races.