San Jose

14,000 Provisional Ballots Remain Uncounted in Santa Clara County, Cortese Yet to Concede

San Jose mayoral candidate Dave Cortese Friday showed no signs of conceding Tuesday's election despite new vote tallies from absentee ballots showing him still trailing rival Sam Liccardo by more than two percent.

As of Sunday evening, about 14,000 provisional ballots were left to count. Liccardo had 87,950 votes, or 51.06 percent, and Cortese had 84,282, or 48.94 percent.

The total votes counted in the mayor's race were 172,232.

It was a busy Sunday for the Registrar's Office which is expecting to finish counting all mail-in ballots that night.

Liccardo, outgoing member of the San Jose City Council representing District 3, on Wednesday declared himself the winner, after leading by two points, 51 to 49 percent, as of that morning.

Cortese, a member of the county Board of Supervisors, did not announce he was conceding after the new vote total Friday afternoon and received kudos for it from supporters on his campaign's Facebook page.

"Thank you Dave for doing everything you can to make San Jose a better, safer place to live," wrote David and Ginnie Guthrie. "Thank you for not conceding. Every vote should be counted. We still have hope!"

"Oh Mr. Cortese, I am still holding on to the hope that you may still win!" wrote Josephine Delvey. "I have fingers and toes crossed and say prayers for you nightly! God Bless!"

NBC Bay Area Political Analyst Larry Gerston said Liccardo seems to be the beneficiary of a low turnout election.

The Registrar's Office is asking for an independent investigation after reports votes were lost due to problems with the county's computers.

Also being looked into is the county's IT Manager, who abruptly resigned right before the election.

Editors Note: This article has been updated to show the number of votes counted as of Sunday evening.

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