Evan Low up by one vote over Joe Simitian as the Congressional District 16 recount continues

The tie in the Congressional District 16 race has been broken yet again as more preliminary results for the ongoing recount pour in — Assemblymember Evan Low is now up one vote over Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian.

Since April 15, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have been recounting the more than 182,000 votes cast in the March primary race to replace U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo. San Mateo County wrapped up its counting on Wednesday afternoon with no vote changes for either Low or Simitian, though a number of ballots that were challenged are still being adjudicated.

Some of those challenged ballots in San Mateo County had illegible or no postmark dates and Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry said they were waiting on information from the U.S. Postal Service

“We’re taking our time to review all of the issues and make sure we touch base with USPS to verify those marks and times that the ballots were delivered and cross check and make sure we have all the information before we make a determination,” Irizarry said on Wednesday.

The recount comes at the behest of Jonathan Padilla, a 2020 and 2024 Biden delegate and former mayoral campaign staffer for former San Jose Mayor Liccardo, who finished the primary in first place. Low and Simitian tied for second with 30,249 votes each. With no automatic recount trigger for state or federal races in California, a recount could only be requested by the campaigns themselves or a registered voter.

On Thursday afternoon, Santa Clara County added recount results for three more precincts and Low picked up an additional vote. Low has seen an increase of seven votes while Simitian has added six votes compared to the original count. Santa Clara County has recounted votes in 187 of 199 precincts.