Community Attorney Imelda Padilla maintained a strong lead in the special election to represent the eastern and central San Fernando Valley on the Los Angeles City Council, according to updated results released Friday.

Marisa Alcaraz, a top aide to Councilor Curren Price, followed Padilla according to the results. Like Alcaraz

leading position

she will run against Padilla in the June 27 general election.

Marco Santana was in third place after Friday’s vote count, trailing Alcaraz by about 300 votes.

Padilla led Tuesday night after the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder counted about 9,000 ballots in the City Council District 6 race. Friday’s update included another 4,400 ballots.

More votes are expected to be counted in the coming days. Ballots postmarked on Election Day will be accepted until Tuesday.

11 April

The election results will be announced on April 14.

The District 6 seat became vacant after Nury Martinez resigned in October following revelations she had made racial slurs in a closed-door meeting.

Unions, corporations and other special interests pumped more than $270,000 into the race, most of which funds backed Padilla and Alcaraz.

Alcaraz also lent itself $18,000 in the final days of the election, according to campaign revelations.

Rose Grigoryan, ranked fourth, according to Friday’s update, reported spending more than $18,000 on mailers and television, or cable time and production costs, according to campaign disclosures she filed with the city.

Grigoryan’s campaign has yet to submit copies of those mailers or descriptions of that TV

or cables

advertisements, as required by the city’s ethical rules. Grigoryan, in an email to The Times, blamed “a grave case of negligence” on the part of the outside treasurer she had hired for her campaign.

Grigoryan, who emigrated from Armenia a decade ago, likely benefited from a strong turnout in the Armenian-American vote in Tuesday’s election. Armenian-American voters make up just 4% of registered voters in City Council District 6, but results through Tuesday showed that Armenian-American voters made up 12% of the revenue. Political strategist Eric Hacopian, Armenian-American voter turnout will beat almost all other categories of voters if one of them is on the ballot. The race to fill the seat, prompted by the resignation of City Council President Nury Martinez, included a total of seven candidates, including political newcomers, former and current aides to elected officials and community volunteers. Santana, who works for a homelessness service provider, is endorsed by LA City Councilman Nithya Raman Padilla is endorsed by Representative Tony Cardenas and City Councilman Monica Rodriguez Alcaraz, a top adviser to City Councilman Curren Price, has his support.