All three Democrats were leading in their Encinitas City Council races Thursday night after the San Diego County Registrar of Voters Office posted updated election results amid its ongoing vote count.
In the mayoral race, independent incumbent Bruce Ehlers found himself trailing challenger Rimga Viskanta by 73 votes after he had edged ahead of her in the election night tally. In District 3, Democrat Arielle Golden continued to lead Republican Ed Sprague. And in District 4, Democrat Brad Lefkowits maintained his significant lead over Republican incumbent Marco San Antonio.
The count so far consists of 20,673 ballots cast in the mayor’s race and about 5,000 in each council race. It’s unclear how many ballots remain to be counted in Encinitas. Countywide, there are a projected 475,000 left to count out of some 1.3 million cast.
San Diego County voting officials expect to post additional updates Friday and Monday evenings and have until Dec. 3 to certify the election results. The winners will be sworn into new terms or into office next month to represent Encinitas’ 60,000 residents.
The races are technically nonpartisan, but party affiliation can affect fundraising and get-out-the-vote campaigns as well as any number of positions affecting city government.
Viskanta, current San Dieguito Union High School District trustee, and Ehlers have been locked in the tightest race of the three Encinitas elections.
In Cardiff’s District 3, Golden, the former chair of the North County Food Policy Council, and Ed Sprague, a retired firefighter and former Olivenhain Municipal Water District board member, are running to replace Councilmember Joy Lyndes, who is retiring when her term ends next month.
In eastern District 4, which includes New Encinitas and Olivenhain, Lefkowits is a landscape designer and member of the Urban Forest Advisory Committee and Marco San Antonio was appointed to the seat in 2025 to fill a vacancy.
Check back Friday night for an update.