In the closest race of any local election, Theresa “Teri” Dettmer is slowly pulling ahead in her race against Holly vanSchaick for Position 5 on the Bainbridge Island Fire Department fire board.

Dettmer now has 51.6 percent of the vote while vanSchaick has 48.1 percent.

The latest vote tally, released at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, was 2,546-2,375.

The initial gap in the race was only 88 votes in the first count, but has since grown to 171.

Barring an unforeseen change in votes, Dettmer will be sworn in as the Position 5 commissioner during the first board meeting of December.

That meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Dec.4, according to a spokeswoman with the fire department.

In the Position 4 race, Eileen A. McSherry continues to lead over William “Bill” Ruddick in the most recent vote tally. McSherry has 69 percent of the vote, while Ruddick stands at 30 percent.

In the Position 2 race, YongSuk Cho now stands at 65.9 percent of the vote, while David H. Lynch has 33.9 percent.