Brandon Vang has nearly clinched the southeast seat on the Fresno City Council.

Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus updated the results on Wednesday, adding 42 votes in the March 18 special election for District 5.

Vang, a Sanger Unified trustee, remains above the majority mark with 50.16% of the vote. He is eight votes over.

Fresno Unified trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas is in second place with 34.98% of the vote.

If Vang’s margin holds, a runoff election won’t be necessary. He could be sworn in on April 10.

However, if his total falls below a majority, Vang and Jonasson Rosas will meet in a July 15 winner-take-all election.

“We feel very positive that we will avoid a runoff,” Vang’s campaign manager Pedro Ramirez said.

Said Jonasson Rosas: “We need to count every vote.”

The special election was to fill the seat vacated by Luis Chavez after he won election to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. He is married to Jonasson Rosas.

The next update will be Friday, April 4 — the date Kus is required to certify the election.

Few Votes Remain

The only remaining votes to count are cured signature ballots. Kus reported that about 130 such ballots remain. He said nine ballots have been cured since the previous update.

Voters with ballot signature problems have until April 2 to fix the issue. These include not signing the ballot or a signature that doesn’t match what is on file.

Both campaigns have a list of voters whose ballots will not be counted unless they “cure” by the deadline.

Ramirez said the Vang campaign reached out to several of those voters, and anticipate the votes will be in their favor.

Jonasson Rosas’ only chance to force a runoff is to add more cured ballots to her column than Vang does. She said her campaign will discuss the next steps, including a possible recount bid.

Nonprofit leader Jose Leon Barraza is third with 11.9%; Paul Condon in fourth with 2.31%; and write-in candidate Nickolas Wildstar has 0.24%.