Today is the final day to vote – in person, in a drop box or by mail – for a new Santa Clara County assessor.
As the top two vote-getters in the Nov. 4 general election, Neysa Fligor and Rishi Kumar are the only names in the runoff election for assessor. Most county voters have chosen to pass on the chance to cast a vote for a post that hasn’t been up for grabs in three decades.
As of Monday, only 16.3% of the county’s registered voters – 174,562 out of 1,071,024 – had cast ballots for assessor, according to the Registrar of Voters.
Fligor, the current assistant county assessor, and Kumar, a former Saratoga city council member, combined for a little less than 62% of the votes for all four assessor candidates in November.
That fact, combined with the likelihood that four of every five eligible voters won’t vote, heightens the anxiety and uncertainty of the two campaigns about today’s results.
An election cycle that began more than five months ago in the bright sun of the summer solstice with the resignation/retirement of Assessor Larry Stone ends as a near year dawns. If it’s close, the results may not be certain until the first week of 2026 or later.
Fligor, a native Jamaican who earned a law degree from Georgetown University, has stressed her expertise and experience in the assessor’s office. She is a member of the Los Alto City Council and serves as the city’s vice mayor.
Kumar, an Indian-American engineer and self-described “tech dude” who is campaigning on what he calls a “Prop 13 approach,” has pushed a ballot initiative to give all property owners age 60 and older a 100% property tax exemption. He ran three unsuccessful campaigns for Congress.
The final, official count of the Nov. 4 election showed Fligor with 38% and Kumar with 24% of the vote. Saratoga Councilmember Yan Zhao was a close third with 21% and Eastside Union School District board President Bryan Do tallied 17%.
The latest campaign finance reports filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission show that Fligor, who spent about $300,000 in the general election, raised about $40,000 for the runoff. As of Nov. 15, she reported $55,582 on hand, with $111,500 in campaign debt. The politically powerful South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council’s Committee on Political Education spent $15,474 on behalf of Fligor since the November vote. The independent committee had spent $37,298 on her general election campaign, according to the FPPC.
In contrast, Kumar continued to spend modestly on his campaign, reporting $20,000 in contributions in November and December. He spent $12,872 in the general election race, had $17,147 on hand as of Nov. 15, and reported just $108 in campaign debt, according to the FPPC.
County election officials encouraged potential voters to cast ballots before the polls close at 8pm or return a completed ballot for one of these options:
- In Person at a Vote Center – Voters can vote in person or drop off a ballot at any of the 38 Vote Centers located throughout Santa Clara County. Vote Centers will be open on Election Day from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Services include in-person voting, ballot drop-off, language assistance, accessible voting machines, and same-day conditional voter registration. Find a Vote Center location at: sccvote.org/votecenter
- At an Official Ballot Drop Box – There are 109 Official Ballot Drop Boxes available throughout the County. Official Ballot Drop Boxes are available 24-hours and will remain open until 8pm tonight. Find your nearest Official Ballot Drop Box at: sccvote.org/dropbox
- By Mail – Vote by Mail ballots must be postmarked by today and received within seven days of the election to be counted. A postage-paid return envelope is provided with every ballot. If possible, voters are encouraged to take their ballot inside the post office to make sure it gets postmarked by Election Day.
The Registrar of Voters Office at 1555 Berger Drive, Building 2, in San José will also be open for voting services until 8pm tonight. Voters who are in line by 8pm will be allowed to vote.
“Every vote counts, and every election counts,” said Matt Moreles, Registrar of Voters. “Our office is working hard to provide voters with a variety of convenient and accessible voting options so every voter can make their voice heard in this important countywide election, even during this busy year-end season,”.
For more information, contact the ROV Office at (408) 299-VOTE (8683) or toll-free at (866) 430-VOTE (8683), or visit www.sccvote.org.
