Contra Costa County Receives Recount Request Following Election Certification

(CONTRA COSTA, CA) - Contra Costa County has received a formal request for an election recount — the latest development in the ongoing scrutiny of the Assembly District 16 race, which OpGov.News has covered extensively in previous articles.

As we reported earlier, the AD16 election saw unusually high voter turnout, alongside notable delays in obtaining timely precinct-level data.

On Friday, Jun. 26, 2026, Contra Costa County officially certified the election results, triggering a five-calendar-day window during which candidates may request a recount.

Within that window, Chirag Kathrani, candidate and Founder of Open Governance, formally submitted a recount request to the county.

Following certification, the Assistant County Clerk-Recorder fulfilled an earlier commitment by sharing precinct-level results with Kathrani, a development we covered in our previous article.

The cost of the recount has not yet been determined. However, the county has confirmed that the process will allow the requesting candidate to be physically present and observe the counting in real time.

Why a Recount Matters Even Without a Likely Outcome Change

Even a partial recount, one unlikely to alter the final results in any meaningful way, serves a critical purpose: rebuilding public trust in the electoral process. Transparency is not just a procedural nicety; it is the foundation upon which community confidence rests.

Kathrani ran as part of a joint campaign alongside four other community members, a coalition that was visible across AD16 through shared campaign signage.

Photo Credit: OpGov.News / Combined Yard Sign of Four Candidates.

Below are the results for all four candidates.

Photo Credit : OpGov.News

One thing is clearly visible: Assembly District 16 turnout in Contra Costa stands at 47.52%, way above the other county races.

The Case for Checks and Balances

On the call for open governance and transparency, Kathrani relayed the following sentiment:

"I have long been regarded as someone willing to question the system, and I take that characterization as a compliment. Healthy systems require scrutiny. We cannot simply assume that processes are sound, particularly when they rely on machines running proprietary software that the public cannot independently verify."

"As an advocate for Open Governance," he adds, "I believe every public process must have checks and balances built into it."

"When I personally observed the vote-counting process, what I witnessed gave me pause: observers are kept in a separate room with no direct line of sight to the ballots being fed into the machines."

Photo Credit: OpGov.News (Counting as seen from the observer kept in fish-bowl area.)

This practice has been in place since 2007, when Contra Costa County moved observers out of the counting room entirely.

That change, removing the public's ability to directly observe the physical handling of ballots, is precisely why this recount has been requested.

It is not about overturning a result.

It is about demonstrating that the process can withstand scrutiny and that every vote is counted with full accountability and honest transparency.

Check out the attached request in the PDF for the recount.

To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at tracy.t@lead4earth.org.