Conservative Carlene Hawley says she's 'not anticipating a win at this point' in Kitchener-Conestoga

There is one poll left to be reported on in Kitchener-Conestoga and it's going to take a while to get results.

People shouldn't expect to see results "until late Wednesday or early Thursday," saidElections Canada spokesperson Rejan Grenier.

It's an incredibly tight race in Kitchener-Conestoga where Liberal incumbent Tim Louis has a slight lead of 174 votes over Hawley.

But while the process of counting mail-in ballots is underway, Conservative candidate Carlene Hawley said inan email to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo Tuesday afternoon thatshe was disappointed in the results.

"We are not anticipating a win at this point from the mail-in ballots," she wrote. "I'm ever grateful to my family and the many volunteers that supported the campaign."

Mail-in ballots still being counted

Verification of mail-in ballots can typically take three to four hours and it's an arduous process that sees volunteers checking the envelopes for signatures in the correct places and ensuring people who voted by mail didn't also vote on election day, Grenier says.

After that, the vote count takes place, which can also take another three to four hours. Add in volunteer breaks and rotating shifts and it means the process can take more than a day, he said.

The close race echoes similar races in the riding in 2019, when Louis beat then Conservative incumbent Harold Albrecht by 365 votes and 2015, when Albrecht beat Louis by 251 votes.