Just over 51 percent of Santa Clara County’s registered voters cast ballots in the March 3 election, according to the certified results from the registrar of voters office.
The office announced the results were certified April 23. The final vote count showed 495,791ballots were cast, representing 51.12 percent of the county’s voters.
The registrar of voters typically certifies the results once the canvass of the vote is completed, usually within 30 days after an election. However, this date was extended three weeks in accordance with an order from Gov. Gavin Newsom related to the COVID-19 state of emergency, reads a press release from the registrar of voters.
Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey said the extended period offered voters additional time to remedy signature issues, such as ballots received by mail with a blank signature line, or one that did not match the signature on file. Bushey added that registrar staff worked diligently through the canvass while adhering to social distancing measures.
“I want to thank all the staff who understand their vital role as essential Santa Clara County election workers,” Bushey said. “The Registrars’ Office has been active with internal procedures including the canvass while remaining open to the public for registration and election-related purposes.”
Bushey added that additional precautions such as appropriate distancing and hand sanitizing stations are in place at the ROV for the safety of staff and the public. “Our thoughts are with the community through these trying times,” she said.
This was the first canvass completed under the new Voter’s Choice Act election model, registrars’ staff said. As such, materials were collected from each of 110 vote centers as well as the vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and received within three days. All electronic and paper ballots are added to confirm preliminary vote totals. Afterwards and prior to certification, a 1 percent manual tally was conducted to confirm the accuracy of the machine-counted results.
“We had a very smooth transition into the new model, both in the lead-up to the election and in the post-election reconciliation,” Bushey said. “I can say the rollout of VCA in Santa Clara County was a resounding success, and we are taking lessons learned on how to make it even better looking forward to the Presidential General Election in November.”
The official election results are posted on the Registrar of Voters’ website at sccvote.org. These official results, called the Statement of Vote, provide a complete picture of the election with vote totals broken down by jurisdiction and precinct. Anyone may download or print a complete copy of the Statement of Vote, which was produced and posted on the ROV website immediately upon certification.
In Morgan Hill, two local measures failed with resounding opposition. Measure A, which would have changed the zoning of a property on Madrone Parkway to allow two hotels, was defeated with 66.98 percent of voters voting “No.” Measure I, a $900 billion bond for Morgan Hill Unified School District, was defeated with 60.88 percent of voters casting “No” ballots.
