With absentee ballots yet to be counted, Democrat Matt Smith ’98 leads independent Democrat Jessica Holmes in the Ward 9 aldermanic election by a margin of only a few dozen votes.

Though absentee ballots had yet to be counted by press time, Smith led Holmes 624 votes to 606. The election to represent Ward 9, which covers the East Rock area that is home to a number of Yale professors and administrators, split city Democrats; members of the Democratic machine backed Smith, while local unions pledged their support to Holmes.