Santa Barbara Board Election a 4-Month Cliffhanger : Supervisors: By day’s end Tuesday, rancher Willy Chamberlin had moved ahead--by 2 votes--of panel Chairman Bill Wallace. But this soap opera isn’t over.

Four months after an election to decide political control over growth along the Santa Barbara coast, people here still do not know who won the pivotal 3rd District seat on the county Board of Supervisors.

Rancher Willy Chamberlin was sworn into office in January, believing he had narrowly won the race by defeating Bill Wallace, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors. But as the ballots have been recounted in court over the past three weeks, the race was thrown into a tie; Wallace even took the lead for a time.

At the end of the day Tuesday, Chamberlin was ahead again by two votes. But the soap opera isn’t over yet.

“We’ve spent weeks and weeks studying this issue,” said Carol Acquistapace, the county’s elections manager. “We’ve had to deal with subpoenas, high emotions and incredible tension. I’m exhausted by it all.”

The episode began early last year when Chamberlin, a pro-growth advocate from the Santa Ynez Valley, took on four-term incumbent Wallace, the leader of slow-growth forces in Santa Barbara. After the November runoff, voters waited three weeks while the county elections office counted absentee ballots.

On Dec. 1, the county certified that Chamberlin had won the seat by seven votes. Wallace then paid for a monthlong recount, in which about 35,000 votes were examined by hand, one by one. Then the candidates and their attorneys investigated voter registrations, absentee ballots and other material to make sure they had received the proper number of votes.

The new tally narrowed Chamberlin’s victory margin to only five votes. In January, Chamberlin was officially sworn into office as supervisor, along with two other new supervisors: Naomi Schwartz, a slow-growth advocate, and Tim Staffel, a pro-development candidate.

For the first time in decades, three of the five supervisors were pro-development at a crucial time in Santa Barbara County’s history. A number of key decisions faced the new board. Should a multimillion-dollar housing development be allowed near a monarch butterfly reserve on ocean bluffs? Should oil tankers be allowed off the coast? What about slant drilling in open fields near Ellwood Beach?

Wallace contested the election in Santa Barbara Superior Court, claiming that several dozen valid votes were not counted in Isla Vista, his stronghold and an enclave of students from UC Santa Barbara.

Visiting judge Nat Agliano has spent the past three weeks reviewing each disputed ballot, allowing some to be counted and declaring others invalid. The election outcome has changed almost daily. A final result is not expected until next week.

If the candidates end up in a tie, they will go before voters again in a special election, county Clerk Ken Pettit said.