“Every vote counts.”
It’s an old saying in elections — but it hits differently these days for Santa Clara County supervisor Joe Simitian.
In the March primary election, Simitian finished in a tie with Assemblymember Evan Low for second place in the 16th congressional district. After a weeks-long recount, Low emerged as the winner by five votes and advanced to the general election.
If increased electoral college gridlock, congressional gerrymandering and uncontested races have you feeling like your individual ballot won’t be the difference between victory and defeat for candidates or ballot measures in the November election — consider Simitian’s case, and these other campaigns from Bay Area history.
“Don’t sit it out,” Simitian told KQED in May. “I know when people say ‘every vote counts’ it sounds like a cliche, but I’m here to tell you: every vote counts.”
Keep reading for a sample of races and measures decided by the slimmest of margins. In each race, a different decision by a group of friends or a family — or even a single person — would have changed history in its own small way.
“As an elections official, I always hope for a high turnout and wide margins; that’s sort of the easiest thing to call,” said Kristin Connelly, registrar of voters in Contra Costa County. “But every vote counts, and we take that very seriously.”
Without further ado, here are a handful of entrants in the Bay Area Election Nail-Biter Hall of Fame:
Tied votes (when candidates receive exactly the same number of votes)
- In 2018: Byron Bethany Irrigation District Director 1
- In 2022: Sunnyvale City Council, District 3
- In 2022: Richmond City Council
Rules on how to break electoral ties vary by jurisdiction. In the Byron Bethany Irrigation District — a multi-county special district serving an area that includes parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties — it required the roll of a 20-sided die.
