It’s one of the tightest local races, the fight for Indio City Council District 2 between incumbent Mike Wilson and challenger Waymond Fermon and the nail biter is far from over.

Results from Monday, November 12, at 5 p.m. show Wilson trailing Fermon by five votes. These numbers could change due to thousands of ballots still being counted in the coming weeks.

“We don’t have any idea how long it’s going to take, they’re still counting and it’s very close still,” Fermon said. “We’re very optimistic.”

Both are feeling confident in their chances.

“We’re confident that in the end, our work and what we’ve done for the city of Indio, would put us over the top and I still believe that,” Wilson said.

“It’s an important election here in Indio, so folks are really engaged and we like to see that,” Fermon said.

Folks like Indio resident and voter Chris Oppenheimer.

“As of right now, my ballot is showing still not yet processed,” he said.

Oppenheimer is not alone. Thousands of ballots are in limbo at the Riverside County Office of the Registrar. With recent updates shifting back and forth between the two District 2 candidates, every vote is substantial.

“Every update we get is one or two votes apart, so our votes do count and not in just my election but a lot of others,” Fermon said.

“We still have eleven votes that are unprocessed out there, including my family,” Wilson said.

Voters like Oppenheimer are hoping their ballots are counted and processed before the final results are released.

“It’s extremely close, and I know that I’ve looked on the Nextdoor app in our particular neighborhood and there’s a lot of people that are complaining their votes haven’t been processed yet,” Oppenheimer said.

A problematic situation for such a tight race.

“Every vote matters,” Wilson said.

“It’s out of our hands so we’re just going to trust the process,” Fermon said.

Approximately 132,000 vote-by-mail and 45-thousand provisional ballots still must be processed by Riverside County. Also, 50,000 ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and received no later than Friday remain to be counted.

Tight Indio Race Depends on Uncounted Ballots, Mike Wilson Trails by Five