Mayor Clings to a 2-Vote Lead in Agoura Hills Race : Elections: Some absentee ballots remain to be counted. Louise Rishoff leads challenger Paul Mueller.

Although it appeared that Agoura Hills Mayor Louise Rishoff won reelection Tuesday night by a scant two votes, election officials on Wednesday said the race ultimately will be determined by a handful of uncounted absentee ballots.

News that the election was undecided surprised Rishoff and challenger Paul G. Mueller, both of whom went to bed Tuesday night thinking the campaign was over.

“I assumed that when they gave a final count, they meant a final count,” Rishoff said Wednesday. “Now we’re right back into the great uncertainty.”

“I thought it was over,” said Mueller, president of the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce. “But now we’ll have to cross our fingers.”

With all nine of the city’s precincts reporting, Rishoff led Mueller 1,525 to 1,523 Tuesday night--20.1% of the vote each--according to returns compiled by the Los Angeles County registrar of voters.

But an undetermined number of damaged and absentee ballots remain to be tallied over the next two weeks to determine the winner.

Registrar spokeswoman Marcia Ventura said the uncounted ballots were not included in Tuesday night’s tallies because they were either damaged and could not be processed electronically or were submitted too late to be included in absentee returns.

Ventura said it is not uncommon to have a few uncounted absentee ballots after election night. But she said they rarely make a significant difference.

Clerks at the registrar’s office have until Nov. 25 to count and verify the outstanding ballots. Ventura said results will be updated earlier if the count is finished.

Tuesday’s election was among the closest in the city’s history. The top four vote-getters were within 2% of each other and a record number--39.8% of 10,941 registered voters--turned out.

Candidates concentrated on personalities and perceptions as much as issues in the race, which pitted four political outsiders against Rishoff and longtime Planning Commissioner Joan E. Yacovone.

The challengers charged that Rishoff and Yacovone were part of a political bloc that favored certain neighborhoods while neglecting others. Rishoff and Yacovone denied the claims.

Yacovone, who will replace retiring City Councilwoman Vicky Leary, was the biggest winner of the campaign, receiving 1,617 votes, or 21.4%.

Mueller’s running mate, Lyle I. Michelson, was fourth with 1,488 votes, or 19.7%.