Congressional recount: 16 ballots being challenged in San Mateo County — some of which went uncounted due to a ‘simple oversight’

In another twist that could shake up the results of the recount in the Congressional District 16 race even more, 16 ballots are being challenged in San Mateo County that were excluded from the original tally due to what has been described as a “simple oversight.”

The recount of the 182,135 votes cast in the March primary began on April 15 in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, where the congressional district is located. In the race to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo came in first by more than 8,000 votes ahead of Low and Simitian, who are deadlocked for second.

All three were supposed to head to the November general election — a first in a California congressional race since the state changed to a top-two primary system in 2012. But a recount requested by Jonathan Padilla, a 2020 and 2024 Biden delegate and former mayoral campaign staffer for Liccardo, could knock Simitian or Low off the ballot if the results change. Preliminary partial results released Friday in Santa Clara County, showed Simitian ahead of Low by one vote.

On Monday, Matthew Alvarez, an election attorney at Rutan and Tucker who is representing Padilla, sent a letter to San Mateo County election officials asking them to count 16 ballots he believes were improperly rejected.

The first seven ballots were from registered voters that voted by mail with their ballots postmarked on or before Election Day. Alvarez said all of the ballots were also received by the county on or before March 12 — the deadline for vote-by-mail ballots to arrive.

“The initial rejection of these votes appears to boil down to simple oversight,” the attorney wrote.

Eight more ballots from absentee voters had no postmark date, but the county received them on or before March 12. In the letter, Alvarez argued that the state election code considers a ballot valid even if the envelope doesn’t have a postmark date on it, as long as it is signed and dated by the voter on or before Election Day, which is the case for all eight ballots. The ballots didn’t have a date receipt stamp from the county, but Alvarez said the ballot tracking system shows they were received by the deadline.

“It is plainly evident that these votes were received in a timely fashion,” Alvarez wrote. “While the ballots may not have been physically stamped by elections personnel upon receipt, this technicality should not deprive these voters of the franchise, particularly when there are other verifiable indicia of timeliness pursuant to the county’s own voting records, as is the case here.”

The remaining ballot came from an absentee voter with an illegible postmark date. Alvarez cited the same election code that says a ballot is valid if the postmark date is illegible but was signed on or before Election Day.

While Liccardo’s campaign spokesman Orrin Evans didn’t comment directly about Padilla’s challenge, he did issue a statement criticizing Low for his previous attempt to halt the recount.

“Days after trying to stop the counting of ballots, election attorneys representing Sam Liccardo’s opponents attempted to disqualify the ballots of registered U.S. citizens,” Evans said. “Voters have a right to be disgusted and demand that every legal ballot be counted.”

A spokesperson for Low could not be reached for comment. Simitian’s campaign declined to comment on the challenge, stating that they are waiting for the final results

San Mateo County Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry said they are in the “process of reviewing all of the challenges” and that they should be able to make a final decision tomorrow. Irizarry estimated that they would finish rescanning ballots Tuesday evening or tomorrow morning.

Last week, Alvarez challenged 24 ballots in Santa Clara County that were excluded from the original count. The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters could not be reached for comment about whether they had made a decision on those ballots.

The first update from Santa Clara County on Friday reflected 77 of 199 precincts, with Low picking up one vote and Simitian picking up two. Partial recount results released by San Mateo County on Monday evening marked no changes in the vote count.