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Councilman Steve King’s lead in the Austin mayor primary race has increased as absentee ballots continue to arrive at the Mower County Auditor/Treasurer’s Office.

The Auditor/Treasurer’s Office received 160 absentee ballots on Wednesday, according to Mower County Deputy Auditor/Treasurer Amanda Kiefer. Absentee ballots received after Tuesday’s primary still count toward the election so long as they were postmarked on or before Aug. 11.

As of Wednesday evening, King had 1,510 votes, followed by Councilman Jeff Austin (792) and Brian Heimer (526). The top two candidates will face each other in the November election.

In the Minnesota House District 27A DFL primary, Thomas Martinez still maintains his narrow lead over Joe Pacovsky in Mower County by two votes. Martinez has a significant lead over Pacovsky in Freeborn County, which makes up the majority of House District 27A. Wednesday evening numbers showed Martinez had a total of 1,470 votes to Pacovsky’s 642.

In the U.S. Senate primary, DFL incumbent Tina Smith still holds a commanding lead in Mower County with 1,949 (86.16 percent) votes. On the Republican side, former Congressman Jason Lewis has a comfortable lead in Mower County with 874 (64.84 percent) votes. Both are the presumptive candidates for their respective parties.

Officials are hoping to verify Mower County results on Friday. The State will then verify the results on Tuesday.