Up until recently, you (or your parents) may have thought you’d have the opportunity to choose between three contenders for the 16th Congressional District election in November — the first such occurrence in California history.

With exactly 30,249 votes each, Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian tied for second place behind former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. By March 29, six days before election results were to be certified, Simitian had a mere four-vote lead over Low.

“State law basically says that when there is a tie for the two positions … the two will go to the November election, so they will be at [a] three-way race for the congressional seat,” said Jim Irizarry, assistant assessor-county clerk-recorder of San Mateo County.

But in another turn of events, election officials started recounting ballots on Monday, meaning the current tie could break. 

In California, federal-level elections can be recounted if requested by a voter in the district. In this case, voter Jonathan Padilla — who was a policy and finance director for Liccardo’s 2014 San Jose mayoral campaign — called for the recount in Santa Clara County on behalf of Low. 

According to state law, Padilla must finance the recount, which is estimated to come out to around $16,000 a day in Santa Clara County. 

The Santa Clara County Registrar’s Office also announced that Dan Stegink, a voter who requested a recount in San Mateo County, withdrew his initial request. Despite Stegink’s withdrawal, San Mateo County confirmed that they also started their recount yesterday. The recount in San Mateo County is estimated to cost $6,000 per day, as it only makes up around 20% of District 16. 

It is currently unclear how long the recount will take, but Santa Clara County’s original estimation of five days seems unlikely, warehouse supervisor Ravi Dhillon told San Jose Spotlight. Multiple news sites report that the recount is likely to go into late next week. 

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.