A contentious and highly-politicized recount in Silicon Valley’s open congressional race has finished in Santa Clara County with Assemblymember Evan Low leading Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian by four votes.
Low gained 11 additional votes in the recount for a total of 25,093 in Santa Clara County — which covers 80 percent of Congressional District 16 — while Simitian gained seven votes for a total of 23,775. These results will be added to the recount results in San Mateo County, which covers the rest of the district and wrapped up its recount last week with the two candidates tied.
“Our team has reviewed Santa Clara County’s final recount results,” a spokesperson from Low’s campaign told San José Spotlight. “We now await a final decision on the remaining challenged ballots in San Mateo County in determining the ultimate outcome. We would like to thank the elections officials and their staff for their hard work during this process.”
Simitian’s campaign declined to comment.
There were 16 challenged ballots being examined as of last Wednesday, according to San Mateo County elections officials.
“Tomorrow we should have a decision on that. We are going to meet with the requester and their attorney and make a final determination, and any changes at that point in time will be reported in the afternoon on our website,” San Mateo County Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry told San José Spotlight.
Overall, observers in Santa Clara County challenged 45 uncounted ballots, according to a statement by the county’s Registrar of Voters. Of these ballots, elections officials ultimately determined that seven previously uncounted ballots were valid and should be included in the recount results.
‘A learning experience’
The registrar also found 19 ballots from six precincts that will be included in the recount results but were not initially tallied due to what elections officials describe as “human errors” by the tabulation machine operators.
“This recount has been a learning experience, and we will use these lessons learned to improve our processes and strengthen our quality control safeguards. The Registrar of Voters is committed to continuous improvement to deliver the most effective and accurate elections possible for our voters,” Assistant Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles said in a statement.
The completion of an unprecedented recount to replace Rep. Anna Eshoo’s congressional seat comes 15 days after both counties started recounting the more than 182,000 votes cast in the March 5 primary.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo secured first place in the crowded race. After nearly a month of see-sawing between razor-thin margins, Low and Simitian tied for second place at 30,249 votes each. As a result, all three advanced to the November runoff.
With no automatic recount provision in statewide and federal elections in California, Jonathan Padilla, a 2020 and 2024 Biden delegate and former mayoral campaign staffer for Liccardo, requested a recount. He has been paying the $24,000 a day for the recount through a super PAC called Count the Vote — founded by people who are also linked to Liccardo.
Liccardo on Tuesday denied his involvement in the recount in an op-ed for San Jose Inside.
“I did not request this recount. Neither I nor anyone in my campaign has communicated with Padilla or his donors about the recount. Candidates and their campaigns cannot lawfully communicate with independent expenditure groups,” Liccardo wrote. “The fact that Padilla is a supporter of mine is not remarkable; every independent expenditure committee in history has been created by a candidate’s supporter.”
Liccardo is facing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging his campaign is coordinating a “dark money” effort to fund a highly-criticized recount in the Congressional District 16 race.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.