Low, Simitian officially tie in District 16 congressional race in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties

On April 2, Low was hanging on to second place for the hotly contested Silicon Valley by just a single vote, but one additional ballot in San Mateo County was in favor of Simitian, causing the tie.

“I am honored to have won the support of our community to advance to the general election to replace the esteemed Anna Eshoo for Congress now that the Registrars of Voters have certified the results,” Low said in a statement. “Thank you to all of my incredible supporters who gave their time, money, and votes to support our campaign. This historically close race shows that every vote really counts.”

Simitian said in a statement that he was looking to the challenge ahead.

“We have important work to do as a nation. I am ready to do that work. First, of course, that means winning in November. That’s the next challenge,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to hearing from the voters in my district, and I’m looking forward to sharing my vision for our nation’s future.”

Per elections code, all three candidates will now head to a runoff race. But if a campaign chose to request a recount, it will have five days after April 4 — when election results are officially certified by counties — to do so. Election results will be officially certified by the state by April 12.

To request a machine recount in Santa Clara County would cost $16,840 a day and take approximately five days, totaling $84,200, Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters spokesperson Michael Borja said. A manual recount, with ballots tallied by hand, would cost $32,000 a day and take approximately 10 days, totaling $320,000.

In San Mateo County, setup for counting one precinct costs $3,250 and $1,100 to set up for batch counting, regardless of if the count selected is manual or by machine, Jim Irizarry, assistant chief elections officer, said.