Election Day in Santa Clara County is set for Tuesday and voters recently surveyed were unaware of the event.
The special election is for an open seat on the County Board of Supervisors District 2 (East San Jose) vacated by George Shirakawa, who will be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to 12 criminal charges, including perjury and misuse of public funds.
Candidates include Patricia Martinez Roach, Deputy Sheriff Joseph Lajeunesse, San Jose City Hall critic David Wall, former San Jose Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez and Teresa Alvarado, the daughter of Blanca Alvarado who formerly held the seat.
The county registrar on Monday said they received back about just over 18,000 ballots -- nearly 21 percent returned.
Officials say the special election is costing the county $500,000 and are not expecting a large number of voters to participate.
If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, the top two vote-getters will have to face in a runoff elections next month at a cost of another half-million dollars.
