Thousands of ballots hauled from storage as South Bay congressional race recount begins

IN A MASSIVE warehouse behind the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, election workers are pulling hundreds of boxes from storage to begin the recount for the highly-anticipated race to replace Rep. Anna Eshoo’s Silicon Valley congressional seat.

The first day of the Congressional District 16 recount is one of preparation, rather than retabulation. About 30 employees — some who work in the warehouse and others hired as temporary help — spent Monday carrying boxes and separating ballots by precinct. Once ballots are organized, Santa Clara County can begin recounting the roughly 132,000 ballots to determine if both Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian will join former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in the general election.