Evan Low leads Joe Simitian by three votes; few ballots remain uncounted

The battle for the second spot in California’s Congressional District 16 November election continues to be a nail-biter as Assemblymember Evan Low leads Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian by three votes.

Two weeks after Election Day, votes are still being counted in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo that has been too close to call. On Wednesday, Simitian picked up one vote in San Mateo County and three in Santa Clara County, while Low added none in San Mateo County and five in Santa Clara County.

Low or Simitian, who have had several lead changes in the race, will face former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in the general election. Liccardo locked in his spot last week and has nearly 8,000 votes on the two seasoned lawmakers.

Very few ballots remain uncounted in both counties. On Wednesday, San Mateo County said it had four unprocessed ballots and 652 challenged ballots, while Santa Clara County had 25 unconditional voter registration ballots left to be counted and 1,000 challenged ballots. It’s likely that not all of those ballots will come from District 16 voters.

The challenged ballots, which are ballots that have issues with signatures or other problems, must be remedied by April 2.

District 16 includes parts of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, stretching from Pacifica in the north to Los Gatos in the south.