STEUBENVILLE — By Friday, voters will know exactly how close the race was for the Republican nomination for mayor of Steubenville.

Election night results showed mayoral hopefuls Kimberly Hahn and Ralph Petrella running neck and neck, unofficially finishing the night with Petrella up by just 10 votes.

Provisional votes and late arriving absentee ballots weren’t part of those calculations, however, and on Monday the Jefferson County Board of Elections convened to address them.

• Of the 15 provisional votes cast, one was disallowed because the voter didn’t present a valid ID by 4 p.m. Saturday, the deadline. That left 14, but four of them were cast by voters living in other communities — specifically, Toronto, West Park, Elk and Glen Robbins. The remaining 10 provisionals were cast by Steubenville residents but one of them was issues-only, which means it will not impact the outcome of the Republican mayoral race.

• Of the 12 absentee ballots that came in after the polls closed, seven were invalidated because they were delivered too late to be counted. Of the five absentee ballots deemed countable, only one was cast by a Steubenville voter.

That means there could be, at most, a nine-vote swing one way or the other–so with Petrella up by 10 votes at the start, worse-case scenario he would finish with a wafer-thin one vote safety net.

The final tallies, however, won’t be known until Friday, when Board of Elections Director Robert Gale reports the results of the primary vote canvass and the board certifies the tabulations.

Petrella admitted it took a few minutes Monday for it all to sink in.

“I’m excited (about) today’s announcement, based off the math,” Petrella said later. “I’m up 10 votes with only 9 possible votes available to be (added in). The news is still very unofficial but I’m excited to see what Friday brings for the election count and announcement. Mrs. Hahn ran a very good campaign, and it is very exciting to be a part of a race that is so close.”