In a nail-biter of a race, Athena Burciaga jumps to a three-vote lead in bid for Marina City Council.

The closest election in Monterey County is for the District 4 seat on the Marina City Council, and the winner will likely not be determined until the last vote is counted.

Eleven votes separate the three candidates, as of the latest count released Nov. 9. Athena Burciaga, who was in third place by 39 votes on Nov. 6, jumped to first place on Nov. 9.

She now leads Brad Imamura by three votes. Mike Simmons, who is in third, is behind by only 11 votes.

There are 3,703 registered voters in Marina’s District 4, which encompasses the southern end of Marina and the new development in and around the Dunes. A total of 1,777 ballots have so far been counted.

While it’s unknown how many ballots are left to be counted in District 4, the Monterey County Elections Office estimates there are roughly 28,000 more to be processed countywide. That includes vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day (Nov. 3) that are received by Tuesday, Nov. 10, as well as roughly 2,000 provisional ballots and another 1,050 with missing or mismatched signatures that voters have an opportunity to correct.

The new District 4 representative will replace Liesbeth Visscher, who lost in her bid to become mayor to Mike Moeller. The latest results show Moeller increasing his lead in the three-person mayoral race.

Measure Q, the 7-percent utility users tax, was considered defeated on election night. The latest count shows the margin of defeat widening even further, with 76 percent voting against the measure.

The next results are expected to be released later today, Nov. 10.