Burke Widens Lead Over Watson : Elections: Former congresswoman leads by 2,246 votes in 2nd Supervisorial District as tally of ballots continues.

Former Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke stretched her lead over state Sen. Diane Watson to 2,246 votes Thursday, with an estimated 5,000 ballots still to be counted in the race to elect the first African-American to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Neither candidate was ready to declare a winner, choosing to wait for the final tally, which could come at the earliest on Monday, nearly two weeks after the Nov. 3 election.

Burke, who led Watson by 775 votes the day after the election, has built up her lead as about 150,000 absentee ballots have been counted. Election workers must check signatures on all the ballots.

“It’s not over yet,” Watson said Thursday, adding that she is gathering evidence of alleged irregularities in the balloting to present to the district attorney’s office. She also hinted that she may file a lawsuit.

The district attorney’s office is investigating the balloting, but election officials have said they have found no evidence of vote fraud.

Burke said in a letter to the district attorney’s office that she welcomed an investigation. But she noted: “Although the close results of emotional campaigns often bear the fruit of allegations of voting irregularities, in most cases they can be attributed to sour grapes.”

Watson said: “I have in my hand five absentee ballots that came to the same address unsolicited. . . . Somebody could have voted them.”

Watson campaign aides have held out hope that their candidate will overtake Burke once provisional ballots are counted. These are ballots cast on Election Day by voters whose names did not appear in the voter registration log at the polling place. They are permitted to vote, but their ballot is set aside until their registration can be checked.

Watson aides have noted that their candidate outdistanced Burke in ballots cast at the polls by 184,469 to 182,519. Burke has taken the overall lead on the strength of a heavy absentee vote.

“It looks like we’re in pretty good shape at this point,” Burke said. A Burke aide said Watson would need to capture about 71% of the remaining votes to ensure a victory.

In addition to the 10,000 to 15,000 provisional ballots that must be examined from throughout the county, 30,000 to 40,000 absentee ballots remain uncounted in the county. Both campaigns have estimated that about 5,000 provisional and absentee ballots involve the 2nd District race.

The winner will succeed retiring Supervisor Kenneth Hahn to represent the district. Officials have until Nov. 23 to certify election results. The loser has five days to seek a recount.