Posted: Wednesday, November 8, 2000 11:13 a.m.

Kniss holds slim lead
Some absentee ballots may be left to be counted

Liz Kniss held a less than 2,000-vote lead over Dolly Sandoval in the Santa Clara County supervisorial race Wednesday morning, with an unknown number of absentee ballots left to be counted.

Out of almost 94,000 votes cast, Kniss held a 1,943-vote lead in a race that seesawed all through the night until the precinct count was finished a few minutes before 2 a.m.

"It would be hard to make up 1,900 votes," Sandoval said Wednesday morning. As of 9:30 a.m., she had not yet conceded the election.

Santa Clara County election officials said Wednesday morning that about 28,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted, countywide. It wasn't known how many of those were from the 5th supervisorial district.

The absentee ballot count is expected to take until sometime Friday.

"At 2 percent, it's still uncannily close," Sandoval said. "We're going to wait until every last ballot is counted."

Kniss, Palo Alto's mayor, and Sandoval, a Foothill-DeAnza Community College District trustee, are vying for the seat left vacant by Joe Simitian, who was elected to the state Assembly Tuesday.

--Don Kazak