Days after San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo questioned the constitutionality of a controversial ballot measure, elections officials announced Friday the initiative fell short of a threshold of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. After more than a year of intense public debate on the future of San Jose’s local elections, Liccardo — during...
South Bay leaders demand Kansen Chu resign over racially-charged remarks
Bay Area civil rights organizations joined forces Monday to call for Assemblymember Kansen Chu’s resignation in response to his “racist and hateful” comments. Condemning Chu’s comments to the Chinese language publication World Journal, Walter Wilson, a community leader from the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, said leaders in Silicon Valley’s Asian, Black and Latinx communities will...
Santa Clara: Retired CHP lieutenant Bob O’Keefe running for City Council
Retired lieutenant Robert “Bob” O’Keefe hopes he can continue to serve and protect the people of Santa Clara — this time from a seat on the City Council. Born and raised in the Mission City, the 60-year-old retired California Highway Patrol lieutenant has joined the race for the District 5 seat, which was vacated by...
Santa Clara County elections officials dismiss Trump’s voter fraud claims
After President Donald Trump hurled a firestorm of tweets denouncing vote-by-mail elections, Silicon Valley election leaders insist the voting method is accurate and dispute the president’s claims of voter fraud. “Voters in our county are used to voting by mail,” Shannon Bushey, the Santa Clara County registrar of voters, told San José Spotlight. “They know...
San Jose: Primary opponents endorse in county, state races
After running a campaign against Kansen Chu, San Jose Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco has endorsed the assemblyman in his quest to win a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Carrasco and Chu faced off in a four-way race in the March primary to replace Supervisor Dave Cortese, who is terming out of office...
Coronavirus: How Silicon Valley candidates are campaigning while social distancing
Door-knocking, shaking hands and kissing babies is off the table for Silicon Valley political candidates during the coronavirus crisis. And with stay-at-home orders extending through May, candidates are now devising new strategies to reach voters in a digital campaigning landscape as the November election draws near. A side effect of shelter-in-place, according to San Jose City Council candidate...
San Jose: Battle over Fair Elections Initiative goes to court — but who will pay?
After admitting to errors counting signatures for a contentious San Jose ballot initiative, top Santa Clara County elections officials are suing the city to demand it pay for a recount of nearly 100,000 signatures. The lawsuit — filed by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — aims to reverse a decision the office made in March when...
Prop. 13 reform backers submit signatures for revised measure in November
Backers of the “split roll” property tax measure on Thursday submitted almost 2 million signatures — nearly twice the number required — to qualify a revised version of the initiative for the November ballot. Schools and Community First, a coalition of education, labor and philanthropic organizations, announced submitting 1.74 million signatures, far above the 997,139 signatures needed by...
San Jose labor leaders question missing signatures after measure fails to qualify
A citywide measure to shift mayoral elections to presidential years and prohibit certain campaign contributions has failed to qualify for the November ballot, but labor leaders are questioning the process and claiming nearly 2,000 voter signatures went missing. Last month, labor officials delivered nearly 100,000 signatures to San Jose City Hall to qualify the initiative....
San Jose: Voter turnout on Super Tuesday higher than years past
Hundreds of thousands of Santa Clara County voters turned out to vote during Super Tuesday this year, deciding the fate for dozens of local offices and measures, and narrowing down the race for the Democratic presidential nominee. While the early numbers are estimates, Eric Kurhi, a spokesperson for the county’s Registrar of Voters, said voter...