With thousands of ballots cast in the November 6th midterms in Riverside County voters often think their vote doesn’t make a difference. But the Indio District 2 City Council race is proving that old saying true: every vote counts.

“You have to have your voice heard because as you can see every vote counts in this race,” says Job Huerta, Waymond Fermon’s campaign director of voter engagement.

Huerta says every vote count update between incumbent Mayor Michael Wilson and Correctional Officer Waymond Fermon has been close, sometimes Wilson leading by 14 to, “Tied 1,129 to 1,129 and then yesterday we took or the day before that we took an eight point lead and we’ve held that eight point lead.”

Some are surprised the race is so tight. Wilson has been serving Indio residents on the council for 21 years. Fermon, his challenger has called Indio home his whole life but it’s his first time running for office.

Wilson’s campaign wasn’t available for comment.

But Huerta says their grass roots efforts showed they had a chance, “The citizens who when we went to knock on their doors they said, ‘No one has come to talk to us in 20 years'”, adding that Fermon was recognized and approached more and more as the campaign went on.

This tight race could mean the people are looking for change or this first election after Indio split into five districts is what is making the change.

Huerta says their campaign slogan “Bridge the Gap” resonated with voters.

“Bridge the gap between these two areas sort of this area where all this attention has been going on, where all the businesses have been left behind which is North old Indio,” he says explaining the District 2 has areas with vast differences.

The latest update on Monday night had Fermon ahead by 9 votes, up by one from the previous update.

But with thousands of mail in and provisional ballots left to process Huerta says they’re not celebrating yet, “We know that the process is still ongoing, so we’re confident and if we have a party we’ll let everybody know.”

Indio Council Race Still Too Close to Call