As explained in a previous article, there are several thousand votes that still need to be counted in Santa Clara County races. Some of the races are too close to call and even if all the ballots are counted and certified, candidates have the opportunity to ask the Registrar of Voters for a recount.
All of this is to say, it could be weeks until we know who will officially represent the cities of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale both at the local and state levels.
The Registrar of Voters says that as of the morning of Nov. 17, there are approximately 19,000 ballots that remain unprocessed countywide. The department is also waiting on challenged signatures, which include mail-in ballots that voters forgot to sign. Voters have 28 days to submit amended signatures for verification with the County Registrar of Voters.
The site will continue to update but all online results are considered “unofficial” until Dec. 8 when the Registrar of Voters will submit “certified” election results.
There are four close races to watch. They include the Santa Clara race for mayor, Sunnyvale City Council’s District 3, the State Senate race for District 10 representing Santa Clara and Sunnyvale and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s race.
Here are the 2022 election results as of Nov. 16, 2022 at 6:15 p.m.
Santa Clara Mayor’s Race
Incumbent Lisa Gillmor continues to increase her lead over challenger Anthony Becker.
Gillmor has 14,376 votes to Becker’s 13,689. The margin is now 687 votes with 28,065 of the expected 59,831 ballots counted.
Sunnyvale City Council District 3
The back and forth swing in the Sunnyvale City Council District 3 race continues. On election night, Justin Wang held a minor lead over Murali Srinivasan. However, as the counting continued, Srinivasan took the lead. Srinivasan led as recently as Nov. 14, but then Wang took back the lead.
Right now, just 12 votes separate the two candidates. Wang has received 2,752 votes for 50.11% percent, while Srinivasan has received 2,740 votes for 49.89% percent.
State Senate District 10
Aisha Wahab appears to have taken the lead over Lily Mei in the race for the State Senate seat representing District 10 (which includes Santa Clara and Sunnyvale).
While Mei held the lead on election night, ballot counting in the past week has boosted Wahab’s position. Wahab now leads with 52,586 votes to Mei’s 48,783 votes.
That’s a 3,803 vote difference between the two democrats.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Race
The gap between Robert “Bob” Jonsen and Kevin Jensen has shrunk.
As of Nov. 16 at 6:15 p.m., Jonsen has 224,664 total votes while Jensen has 218,496 total votes.
2022 Election Results: Other Races in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale
In Santa Clara’s District 2, incumbent Raj Chahal continues to maintain his sizeable lead over challenger Larry McColloch. Chahal has received 2,821 votes, totaling 62.59% to McColloch’s 1,686 or 37.41%.
As for District 3, incumbent Karen Hardy has maintained her lead over challenger Christian Pellecchia. Hardy has received 2,739 votes, for 64.31% of the total. By comparison, Pellecchia has received 1,520 votes for 35.69% of the total.
On the Sunnyvale side of things, Richard Mehlinger continues to maintain his lead over Satyam Dave. Mehlinger has received 70.91% of the vote to Dave’s 29.09% in District 5.
In the Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees races, Vickie Fairchild is still winning over challenger Nestor Toribio in the Trustee Area 3 race. Fairchild has received 74.85% of the vote to Toribio’s 25.15%.
In Trustee Area 4, Andrew Ratermann has maintained his lead over challenger Kimberley Williams. Ratermann has received 60.06% of the vote to Williams’ 39.94%.
Both of Santa Clara’s measures, Measure G and Measure H, still appear to be passing.
Measure G approves a change in the City Charter to better reflect current practices in Santa Clara while Measure H deals with increasing the City’s business license tax.
In the State Assembly District 26 race, Evan Low is still well ahead of Tim Gorsulowsky. Low has 73.96% of the vote to Gorsulowsky’s 26.04%
2022 Election Results Final Tallies
The Registrar of Voters is expected to issue another update on Wednesday, Nov. 17 before 5 p.m.
According to the California Secretary of State’s Office, the election results will be certified by Dec. 16, 2022.
Ah, for a return to the days of “hanging chad”.