Santa Clara County's election will not be reviewed by the Secretary of State after all, despite public speculation about a county IT manager who quit the day before voters went to the polls and a request from the county for an independent evaluation.
The concerns prompted the county to request last week an independent review from the state of its Election Day procedures. But on Tuesday, county Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey said that state officials have informed her office that they will not go ahead with the review. Bushey said she discussed the potential review with the Secretary of State officials on Monday and expects a letter from the state stating that "they have full confidence in our vote counts and procedures."
Bushey said she is also fully confident in Election Day results, which are still being tabulated. She said the office continues to count the roughly 11,000 remaining provisional ballots, a process that could spill over into the weekend. The delay in getting out the final count is nothing new, Bushey said, and this year's vote followed the same procedures as those in prior years. The county "did not have any problems whatsoever with our ballot tabulations," she said.
The resignation of IT manager Joseph Le fueled speculations about the county's election process, but Bushey said it had no impact on the tabulations.
"I've been assuring everyone that one person not being here does not mean the process has stopped," Bushey said. "Anyone can not be here and we will carry on."
She noted that another member of the IT division who has worked for many years alongside Le picked up the responsibilities and the office was "able to proceed as normal."
Bushey said the county is processing several thousand provisional ballots (those that require extra attention, including a verification of the voter's status) each day.
View unofficial election results on the Registrar's website.
Comments
Jackson Park
on Nov 12, 2014 at 11:49 am
on Nov 12, 2014 at 11:49 am
So let's get this straight:
The main IT guy quits just before the election (evidently with no explanation)
The three Google sponsored candidates in Mountain View all win (one out of nowhere!)
A few days later Google signs a 1.3 Billion dollar deal with NASA
In January, Google will get all the high density housing they could ever want
The State says "nothing to see here".
Yeah, right.
Old Mountain View
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:19 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:19 pm
Very Interesting, who won out of nowhere? Pat Showalter is a long time resident, a civil engineer, and 9 years on the EPC. Ken Rosenberg was the first person I identified as a person running for council (not counting Jim Neal, who was sort of always a candidate in my mind). And Lenny Siegel certainly didn't come out of nowhere. So who came out nowhere?
It's true that the person with the most signs didn't win the election, but that doesn't mean the others were sitting home with their feet on the couch.
Waverly Park
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:28 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:28 pm
@Very Interesting Yeah, ummmm, no. First, none of those candidates come from nowhere, and the Google hanger deal was announced some time ago, just finally signed. So, yes, there really IS nothing to see here.
Jackson Park
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:33 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Neal and Salem are pretty much short timers here. How long Kamei has been here is kind of sketchy from her answers to the questions. Matichak has been on the EPC for 5 years and has been doing a great job as far as I can see. Capriles has lived here a long time, is also currently on the EPC, and garnered alomst 12,000 votes so she should have done pretty good, except she ran a pretty bad campaign. Unangst has also lived here a while and had some really good ideas. Showalter was a surprie because even though she was on the EPC at the end of the last century, she hasn't been on it recently and as far as I know wasn't active at all in local politics until she decided to get in the race. She also didn't really say anything other than she knew about civil engineering... so what? Siegel and Rosenberg had a lot to say and lots of support inside and outside the community. As I said, very strange.
Cuesta Park
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:38 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 2:38 pm
People should say more correctly "It seems strange to me" The "to me" is the key part, because many people do not think it is strange at all.
I'm sure to them it does seem strange, just as I'm sure that to others there seems nothing strange going on at all.
North Whisman
on Nov 12, 2014 at 3:29 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 3:29 pm
My son voted for the first time (19 yrs old). If it smells like a fish. Guess what?C
North Whisman
on Nov 12, 2014 at 4:55 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 4:55 pm
"Google-sponsored Candidates"?!?!?!?
If you pay any attention to Save Hangar One you would know that this has been a years-long endeavor to save the hangar. I know that conspirator-theorists can find links and connections in just about anything, but I fail to connect your dots.
Bailey Park
on Nov 12, 2014 at 5:10 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Some people just like to call conspiracy. It seems in Mountain View, those people like to include Google in their conspiracy.
It is hilarious what how they can spin things to make their conspiracy theories seem "VERY INTERESTING"
Cuernavaca
on Nov 12, 2014 at 5:25 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 5:25 pm
It seems that there are those in this community that have waaaaaaaay too much time on their hands.
Either that, or they believe that everything is a conspiracy of some sort.
another community
on Nov 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm
I believe the concern is for significant incompetence, rather than any sort of conspiracy. There were so many close votes. The importance of the "normal" errors was therefore magnified. We had quite a turnout too. This was more than expected, and it may have ramped up much more greatly than normal as election day approached, i.e. more VBM returns in the last week than normal.
Don't you ask yourself why they couldn't count more of the VBM returns than they did? So they only have 16 machines. Well, keep them running 12 hours a day during the last week. Why wait for he overtime till the election is over? Simple really.
Old Mountain View
on Nov 12, 2014 at 6:49 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 6:49 pm
The story has been up just hours, and already gathered a plethora of comments with dark suspicions and accusations, rather than information.
Meanwhile: Today's issue of the weekly Metro Silicon Valley (whose same editorial team, you'll recall, exposed and toppled corrupt SJ politician George Shirakawa a few months ago) has an in-depth article, interviewing principals, even giving background on IT director Joseph Le's resignation (evidently an ordinary personnel squabble over blame for the botched sample ballots for part of the county), and details of why Santa Clara County had the second-slowest vote talley in the state (after dispersed, rural Mono County), has been that way for years, and is likely to be for a few more.
Web Link
Blossom Valley
on Nov 12, 2014 at 7:40 pm
on Nov 12, 2014 at 7:40 pm
@Very Interesting
Capriles got 12,000 votes two years ago, but much fewer than 4,000 this cycle. A poor campaign indeed.