Imelda Padilla and Marisa Alcaraz appear headed to runoff in City Council District 6 race

Community advocate Imelda Padilla maintained a strong lead in the special election to represent the eastern and central San Fernando Valley on the Los Angeles City Council, according to updated results released Friday.

Marisa Alcaraz, a top staffer to City Councilmember Curren Price, trailed Padilla, according to the results. If Alcaraz’s position holds, she will face Padilla in the June 27 general election.

Marco Santana was in third place after Friday’s vote count, trailing Alcaraz by about 300 votes.

Padilla led Tuesday night after the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder counted about 9,000 ballots in the City Council District 6 race. Friday’s update included an additional 4,400 ballots.

“Today’s update, in which I remain the front-runner to be the next Councilmember of the 6th District, solidifies that the voters acknowledge my lifelong dedication to serving the needs of our working families in the San Fernando Valley,” Padilla said in a statement Friday.

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More votes are expected to be counted in the coming days, including about 100 vote-by-mail ballots that still need to be processed, according to the county. Ballots that are postmarked by election day will be also accepted until Tuesday. The election results will be certified by April 14.

Alcaraz, in a statement Friday, said that she was “well positioned” to advance to the runoff.

Santana faces an uphill battle, needing a big influx of vote-by-mail ballots to make the runoff.

“We’re waiting to see what other votes are outstanding,” said Scott Mann, Santana’s communications director.

The District 6 seat became available after Nury Martinez resigned in October following revelations that she made racist remarks in a closed-door meeting.

Unions, corporations and other special interests pumped more than $270,000 into the race, with most of those funds supporting Padilla and Alcaraz.

Alcaraz also loaned herself $18,000 in the final days of the election, according to campaign disclosures.

While the City Council race is nonpartisan, Padilla, Alcaraz and Santana are all Democrats.

Santana had the support of Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is viewed as one of the more progressive members of the City Council. He opposes 41.18, the city’s anti-encampment law that allows council members to designate areas as off-limits to homeless tents.

Padilla and Alcaraz support 41.18. Both women also support hiring more police officers. At the same time, both candidates have worked on campaigns to raise wages for low-paid workers.

Developer Rick Caruso won more votes in the district over then-candidate Karen Bass in last year’s mayor’s race, which suggests that voters in District 6 may be more conservative than in other parts of the city.

Rose Grigoryan, in fourth place, according to Friday’s update, reported spending more than $18,000 on mailers and television, or cable airtime and production costs, according to campaign disclosures she filed with the city.

Grigoryan’s campaign has yet to file copies of those mailers or descriptions of those TV ads, as required under city ethics rules. Grigoryan, in an email to The Times, blamed “a severe case of negligence” on the part of the outside treasurer she hired for her campaign.