North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District newly-elected board member Wayne Fischer isn't celebrating just yet.

He may have to wait until Tuesday.

Running for one of three seats on the board, Fischer only has a six-vote lead over fellow candidate Don Epstein and, because of some damaged ballots county-wide that are having to be duplicated to determine who voted for whom, his victory has yet to be certified by the county board of elections.

"I'm holding my breath," Fischer said. "I'm constantly checking with the board and have been told that it may be next Tuesday before it's finally decided."

Fischer said that he feels a little like Ohio, or "Florida back in 2000."

While Fischer finished ahead of Epstein by a larger margin in the September primary, he said that Epstein made a more concerted push once he saw he had a chance to win a seat.

"I really admire Don's tenacity, and it forced me to try a little harder to keep ahead of him," said Fischer, who tripled the number of campaign signs he displayed in the village.

Epstein said Wednesday that, should the margin stay the same and he loses, "I will still attend all the meetings and then run again in two years. No big deal."

Washoe County Public Relations Officer Kathy Carter said Thursday that the election staff was counting as fast as it could to get all the contests final.

"My heart goes out to Mr. Fischer and Mr. Epstein and we are doing the count as fast as we can," Carter said.

So for now, Fischer must wait to see if he'll indeed serve on the NLTFPD board of directors, but he understands that's the way it has to be.

"It's part of the good old American process, so I'll just continue to be nervous until it's official. Then, I'll celebrate," Fischer said.