The recount process for the closely watched congressional race in Silicon Valley, California is approaching towards conclusion.
Following the primary election, where the outcome ended in a tie, the spotlight turned to a recount to determine the candidates moving forward to the general election.
However, a small number of ballots, slightly over a dozen, still need to be verified for the results to be declared. The votes are being counted in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Officials from both counties have reported that the recount process is nearing completion, indicating that the majority of ballots have been reexamined.
Melinda Jackson, professor of Political Science at San Jose State University said, “We ended up with two candidates exactly tied for second place,” “This means that three people would go to the runoff in November instead of two.”
The primary election for the District 16 congressional seat seeks attention due to its unexpected outcome. Initially, Sam Liccardo appeared to secure a significant lead, while Evan Low and Joe Simitian found themselves in a tie for second place.
Following the election certification, a request for a recount was promptly made by Jonathan Padilla. Although Padilla has a history with Liccardo’s past mayoral campaign, his connection to Low’s team remains disputed.
“It’s unclear exactly if there’s been any coordination between the front runner, Sam Liccardo, and the person requesting the recount,” Jackson said,
“But that’s kind of how the political dynamics shape up in this case, that the person who actually came in first might like to have a two-person race rather than a three-person race in November.”
San Mateo County electoral authorities have encountered challenges with some ballots, particularly concerning their timely submission, necessitating collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service for verification.
“In this situation, one of the election codes actually says that you cannot get a refund if the two candidates were entitled to be on the ballot in November and both of them qualify to be on the ballot in November. So there’s no refund,” said Evelyn Mendez.
“The process is complex, everyone thinks is just easy, grab the ballots and recount them, it’s not that you have to pull certain ones, you have to find all the ones that are tied to that specific contest,” Mendez said,.
“There’s a lot of pieces to it that people think is such an easy process, but a lot of steps to it behind the scenes and we want to make sure that we do every single thing efficiently.”
While the rescanning of uncontested ballots in both counties has largely concluded, the results have not deviated significantly from the initially certified counts.
The fate of the challenged ballots in San Mateo County remains uncertain, with electoral officials indicating an impending decision on their eligibility for inclusion in the final tally.
As the recount process draws to a close, all eyes remain on the outcome of this closely contested race to find who is set to represent Silicon Valley in Congress.
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