After nearly two weeks of recounts and several disputed ballots, the decision has been reached in California’s 16th Congressional District.
Assemblyman Evan Low narrowly edged out Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian for second place, meaning Low will remain on the November ballot with former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in first place. During the recount, Low received 12 votes and Simitian received seven.
That change gave Lo five votes. The benefit destroyed Simitian’s chances of replacing retiring Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) to represent a prestigious, safely Democratic Northern California district.
The unprecedented second-place congressional tie meant that all three candidates would have appeared on the November ballot had the results been held. The three-way race would be the first since the state moved to a nonpartisan primary system in 2012, which dictates that the top two finishers advance to the November ballot regardless of party affiliation.
Tuesday’s recount results come after a surprising month in Silicon Valley politics, with a race that has thrown local affairs into disarray, created a muddy riverbed and cast uncertainty over the upcoming general election. Added a layer.
“It is not unusual for vote totals to change for a recount, especially in such a large jurisdiction,” Santa Clara County Assistant Voter Registrar Matt Morales said in a statement Tuesday. “Since the race was so close that the two candidates were neck-and-neck for second place, even small changes could make a difference in the outcome.” The district includes parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. San Mateo County elections officials did not immediately respond to the Times, but a copy of their final recount results was provided by Jonathan Padilla, who requested the recount.
According to the Santa Clara County Elections Office, the change in vote counts after the recount can be explained in several ways. In some cases, challenges were raised about the voter’s intent “when a ballot was marked in an unusual manner,” which would then be up for interpretation. Several ballots deemed ineligible in the original count were also challenged, with the county determining that seven of those ballots were valid and could be included in the recount. Human error also affected a small number of ballots in the original count, such as with a 12-ballot batch that was processed but not tallied because an operator accidentally pressed the wrong button after scanning them before recounting. Had suppressed.
After trading leads several times, Simitian and Lo each finished with 30,249 votes in the original tally, which was finalized earlier this month shortly before the recount began. Liccardo finished with 38,489 votes, far ahead of the other two candidates.
Election officials in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties began recounts on April 15, with different parties accusing each other of playing politics and trying to manipulate the democratic system.
According to a letter, Lo initially tried to block the recount through his lawyers, alleging that certain deadlines were missed. Received by Mercury News, The attempt was unsuccessful.
Under California law, any voter can request a recount, as long as he or she is willing to pay the cost. This particular request came from Padilla, a tech entrepreneur and one-time employee of the Liccardo campaign who frequently posts about cryptocurrencies and has been active in San Jose politics for decades.
A new independent expenditure committee called Count the Vote was created On April 9, the same day Padilla filed his recount request.
Padilla told The Times that he had put “some” money into the PAC and that people who “had supported Sam in the past” and were “very concerned about democracy” had also put some money into it, but he declined to elaborate. Refused to share. All will be disclosed in the next required federal filing in July.
Eshoo, a current member of the seat the candidates are competing to fill, attacked the opaqueness of the super PAC’s finances, Congress member said Without complete transparency, “a dark shadow” would loom over the entire election scenario.
Another member of Congress, Representative Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), Took a tough stand in the recount itself, It was described as “a foolish political move” and argued that recounting all votes would be an “undemocratic” attempt to overturn the will of the voters. Khanna endorsed Low, and Ishu endorsed Simitian in the race.
Late last month, when a local prosecutor said the attacks had reached a peak Filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission Alleging that Liccardo’s campaign illegally coordinated with “a newly formed dark money super PAC to further her CD-16 recount bid.”
Liccardo’s political advisor Orrin Evans said his candidate had nothing to do with the recount and called the complaint a distraction based on no evidence.
The district that Liccardo and Low are seeking to represent is overwhelmingly Democratic and includes parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View, and part of the city of San Jose.
According to the California Target Book, Santa Clara County is home to the majority of the district’s voters, about 82% of whom live there, while about 18% live in San Mateo County.
