Margin Narrows But Coble Declared Winner in Mayor's Race; Fanjul Asks for Recount

"I don't have any grand expectations of the results, but I really feel the need to figure out how close it truly is," said Fanjul.

The unofficial results of Tuesday's municipal election put Coble ahead of council member Stephanie Fanjul by 359 votes.

After tallying the results of provisional and mismarked ballots Friday, Coble's margin of victory got even smaller, 263 votes. Provisional ballots are those cast by people who have moved recently and now live in new precincts.

Any candidate who loses a race by 1 percent or less is entitled to ask for a recount.

Election officials say the margin or error -- or results change uncovered by a recount -- has been .0003 percent of the votes cast. That size change would not affect the outcome of this mayoral race.

On Tuesday, 47,000 Raleigh residents voted, and the board of elections will count every ballot again.

"What that amounts to is the staff and the board enter each ballot again into a tabulator. Quite naturally, that takes a length of time to do," said Connie Mitchell, board chairman.

A recount in this race has not yet been scheduled.