The City of Santa Clara saw about a 23 percent voter turnout for the June 5 elections. As of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, most items have clear results.
Measure A
Almost 10,000 Santa Clarans voted on Measure A — which would have updated the City Charter to change the way Council Members are elected — and the majority voted against the Measure.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the Measure failed — 52.36 percent voted No, while 47.64 percent voted Yes.
Measure A would have split the City into two districts with three Council Members each and it would have also introduced Single Transferrable Vote ranked choice voting.
The Measure was an answer to the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) lawsuit Santa Clara is facing. Santa Clara’s Charter Review Committee decided on this solution and City Council gave it the green light to be put before the voters.
Now that the Measure did not pass, Judge Thomas Kuhnle — the judge for the CVRA lawsuit — will likely impose a single-member district solution for the CVRA violation. The Santa Clara City Council can admit liability and then create the districts. However, the court may not accept a districting committee appointed by the Council.
County Board of Supervisors Primaries
Susan Ellenberg effectively secured her ticket to the November elections. However, who else would make the runoff and join her on the November ballot was a narrow contest.
Pierluigi Oliverio currently holds second place, but only by 105 votes. Close on his heels is Don Rocha. Since the outcome is within half of one percent, a recount is very likely to find who will be the second name on the ballot.
Former Santa Clara City Council Member Dominic Caserta received fifth place despite the sexual harassment claims against him that caused him to suspend his campaign almost a month ago.
There were seven candidates vying for Ken Yeager’s District 4 seat. District 4 includes the cities of Santa Clara, Campbell, much of west San Jose, and the unincorporated Cambrian and Burbank districts.
Superior Court Judge Recall
Santa Clara County voters showed up to recall Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky.
About 175,000 voters voted on the item with 59.96 percent of voters saying they want the judge removed.
The Judge’s controversial ruling on the Stanford swimmer Brock Turner’s rape case two years ago gained national attention and sparked a massive movement to have him removed.
Between the two successors on the ballot, with 69.06 percent of the votes, Cindy Seeley Hendrickson will take over for Persky as a Superior Court Judge.