Patsy Ayala’s lead in the first-ever district election for the Santa Clarita City Council is holding steady – but, she says, she is respecting the process and is not yet declaring victory.  Ayala, a city planning commissioner, now has 4,525 votes, good for 35.56% of the vote, leading Bryce Jepsen, who has 4,108 votes (32.28%), and fellow Planning Commissioner Tim Burkhart, who has 4,092 votes (32.16%).  Ayala said Monday evening she was encouraged by the way the results have been trending, but she had not received a concessionary call from either of her opponents and she wanted to respect the process for the L.A. County Registrar’s Office.  “I feel like I am getting closer to serving the people of Santa Clarita,” Ayala said in a brief phone interview, “which makes me happy at this point.”   While the Santa Clarita Community College District’s governing board Monday night grappled with evidence pointing to allegations of financial abuse that could have dated back decades to the tune of millions, its lone remaining incumbent held on by 143 votes in the latest updated vote tally.  In the 11th post-Election Night update from L.A. County, Edel Alonso, president of the College of the Canyons governing board, stayed ahead by a margin that took another hit with the latest results.  It remains to be seen whether there are enough ballots left from the district to make a difference for challenger Scott Schauer, but the likelihood closes with each day and only three more batches to count, based on the county’s scheduled vote tallies.  Alonso lost 30 votes on her lead since Friday, after leading by 200 votes Thursday.  It’s been the hardest to predict of any of the local results, as Schauer led by nearly 370 votes Nov. 7, two days after the election.   Neither candidate has made a declaration on the results as of Monday evening.  The 11th update Monday included another nearly 31,000 ballots countywide, which put the total number counted at 3,764,064, which is 65.61% of registered voters.  “The estimate of outstanding ballots to be processed is 43,800,” according to the Registrar’s Office. “All remaining ballots to be processed are either pending voter response and signature verification, or conditional and provisional ballots that are pending voter eligibility and verification through the statewide voter registration database. Not all of these ballots will qualify to be counted.”  The post Ayala stays ahead in District 1 race  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.