From left, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, state Assemblymember Evan Low, and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian.
Recount results in the District 16 congressional race are expected by the end of this week, election officials said.
It seems the heated process will reach a conclusion in the coming days, with San Mateo County wrapping up scanning ballots and preparing to release decisions on challenged ballots by Wednesday afternoon, Jim Irizarry, San Mateo County assistant elections officer, said.
“Definitely, the end is in sight,” he said.
A dramatic twist in the race originally saw candidates Evan Low and Joe Simitian tie for second place, with Sam Liccardo in a comfortable first.
A subsequent recount request, filed by former Liccardo staffer Jonathan Padilla, prompted concerns about legal legitimacy from the Low campaign, demands from a variety of elected officials for recount funding sources to be made public and a Federal Election Commission complaint, among other turbulence.
San Mateo County is currently reviewing 16 challenged ballots, including those with issues around ID verification, late arrival and signatures that didn’t match, Irizarry said. Six additional adjudicated ballots — with issues on the ballots themselves — are also being reviewed.
Santa Clara County has finished reviewing ballots in 196 precincts. They hope to be finished with the recount process by the end of the week, Steve Goltiao, associate communications officer for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, said.
According to released preliminary result data from Santa Clara County, three votes have been added for Simitian and two for Low, the Mercury News reported.
Santa Clara County is also reviewing challenged and adjudicated ballots, Goltiao said.
Questions remain around funding of the recount, as checks paid to elections offices are being signed by a newly-founded Super PAC Count the Vote. Elected officials, including U.S. Rep Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, whose seat the candidates are vying to fill, have demanded transparency around the identity of the donors.
A complaint has also been filed with the Federal Election Commission against Liccardo for allegedly “engaging in a scheme to circumvent campaign contribution limits and illegally coordinate with a newly formed dark money Super PAC.”
The complaint, filed by Max Zarzana, president of the Santa Clara County Government Attorneys Association, accuses Liccardo of conspiring with Padilla and other individuals previously close to his campaign to illegally pay for the recount. The complaint has not been heard by the FEC.
The Liccardo campaign maintains it has nothing to do with the recount itself, although they’ve been supportive of the effort.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 105
Daily Journal staff
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