The special elections of District 3 of San José remain too close to call, since the contest has now become a matter of which candidate will join Gabby Chávez-López in a second round of June.
After the launch of the results of the Electoral Ballot on Thursday, Matthew Quevedo, the Cabinet Deputy Director of the Mayor of San José, Matt Mahan, and one of the favorites that is directed to the special elections, has surpassed the candidate of the dark horses Anthony Tordillos, which marks another and turns in the race.
While Chávez-López, executive director of the Latin Coalition of Silicon Valley, has built a considerable advantage over the field, winning 30% of the votes, Quevedo has received 22.18%, with two votes separating it and Tordillos per second.
The field of special elections presented seven candidates competing to replace the former member of the council of the dishonorted city Omar Torres, who resigned from office in November before not stopping this week to the positions of sexual abuse that involved a minor.
Completing the contest were Judge Pro TeM and the former IBM employee, Irene Smith, the agent of retired law Adam Duran, the retired family counselor Tyrone Wade and the seller of sharpeners of knives Phil Dolan.
The close nature of the race also guarantees that a runoff occurs on June 24 because no candidate has recovered more than 50% of the votes.
Althegh, the San José City Council chose to allow district residents 3 to choose their next representative, appointed Carl Salas at the end of January to serve an interim capacity until a winner emerged, which means that his mandate was now extended in summer.
Chávez-López has led the races since the launch of the first night of results until Thursday, constantly winning at least 29% of the votes in each of the ballots.
“We encourage the initial and grateful results to the residents of District 3 for their support,” said Chávez-López on Wednesday. “While we hope that progress, we know that each vote counts and we are committed to ensuring that each vote is counted. The campaign has always been about the people of San José, and I am proud of the coalition we have built together.”
Quevedo and Tordillos have now changed positions several times in recent days. Quevedo clung to an advantage of 159 votes on Tuesday night before Tordillos erased the deficit to lead by a single vote on Wednesday night.
A publication on the County website estimated that 38 unprocessed tickets remained until Thursday morning. The next elections are expected to be published at 5 in the afternoon on Friday.
The final results of the elections will not be known until at least next week and there could be more turns and turns, since the voter registrar of Santa Clara Clera will continue to count the tickets by mail until Tuesday, provided they were in matches before April 8.
The close nature of the race could also lead to a count, with a county policy that requires an automatic review for competitions with a margin of victory less than .25% or where that margin is less than 25 total votes.
While the race is still in the air, the Tordillos campaign has remained excited about the results, pointing out how much base support its candidate has received and, despite how the political action committees backed the special interest group and lobbyists.
“We must tell everything and there is more to tell,” said spokesman Kurt Frewing. “We have crushed the special interests and expectations of experts and hope that this process will develop.”