November 21st 2024.
The results of the recent local Bay Area elections have been slowly trickling in, with some races being decided by incredibly narrow margins. On Wednesday, new results were announced, bringing us one step closer to a final outcome.
According to the latest returns, Nikki Fortunato Bas is expected to come out on top in the race for Alameda County Supervisor. In Berkeley, Adena Ishii is poised to become the next mayor, while Raymond Liu is currently leading in the Fremont City Council race.
It's been fifteen days since election night, and despite efforts to correct up to 4,836 ballots with improper signatures, it seems that the margins in the county and Berkeley races will remain the same. However, the race in Fremont is still too close to call and could potentially go either way.
In the South Bay, two races for city council seats in Palo Alto and Cupertino are headed for an automatic recount on Monday. This is due to the tight margins, which according to Santa Clara County law, triggers a second round of vote-tallying.
In Palo Alto, Keith Reckdahl is currently leading by just 13 votes over Doria Summa, while in Cupertino, Ray Wang is ahead of Rod Sinks by a margin of 0.15%.
Interestingly, the rules for recounts differ between Santa Clara County and Alameda County. In Santa Clara County, the government covers the costs for automatic recounts, but in Alameda County, it's up to the candidates to foot the bill. This could potentially cause some concern for candidates in the East Bay, as the race in Fremont's District 6 is separated by just 36 votes.
Liz Oviedo and Rachel Cayabyab, who work at the County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters building, were busy on Friday, April 26, 2024 helping a lawyer with the election results. Meanwhile, Liz Oviedo and Rachel Cayabyab were having a conversation with a lawyer about the results of the election at the County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters building in San Jose, California.
The two candidates in the Fremont race, Raymond Liu and Teresa Cox, have been trading leads since November 5th. Cox, who was behind by only 12 votes before Wednesday's results, declined to comment on whether she would request a recount if she doesn't win. She stated that she is "prayerful" that the outcome will be in her favor. On the other hand, Liu, a software engineer and graduate of UC Davis and Ohlone Community College, was more direct in stating that he simply doesn't have the funds to pay for a recount.
In contrast, the campaigns for Bas and John Bauters, who were battling for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors seat, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their campaigns. The seat represents Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, and parts of Oakland.
Bas, who is currently the Oakland City Council president, was initially behind on election night but has since surged ahead in later returns. She now has a 415-vote lead over Bauters, a councilmember in Emeryville, and has declared victory.
In Berkeley, political newcomer Adena Ishii also made a comeback after initially trailing behind Sophie Hahn in the race for mayor. Ishii is now ahead by over 1,000 ranked-choice votes, or 2.12%.
Ishii stated, "The votes have been counted, and it looks like our lead has held. There are still some left to be cured, but I'm ready to get to work."
The two races in the South Bay do not involve ranked-choice voting or district-based voting. Instead, voters chose four council members from a pool of nine candidates in Palo Alto and two winners from seven prospects in Cupertino.
A few votes here and there could have made a difference in the Alameda County and Fremont races, potentially triggering automatic recounts. However, this is not the case in the East Bay, where recounts are often too expensive to pursue. In fact, an attempted recount in the 2022 Oakland mayoral election was abandoned due to the high cost of $21,000 per day.
According to Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis, the cost of a recount is mainly to cover the extra work of election officials. The cost can vary depending on whether the requester chooses a machine tabulation or a manual hand-tally.
Close races are not uncommon in both regions, as evidenced by the tied council races in Sunnyvale and Richmond in 2022, which were ultimately decided by drawing names at random.
Interestingly, California does not have laws for automatic recounts in statewide races. Earlier this year, Assemblymember Evan Low introduced a bill to create such a policy, but it did not move past committee. This was seen as ironic by many, as Low had previously tried to stop a recount in a Congressional race that he ultimately lost to former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.
It's clear that the outcome of the elections in the Bay Area is still up in the air, with some races being decided by mere votes. As the saying goes, every vote counts.
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