SLO County updates vote totals, tens of thousands of ballots still to be counted
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) - One full week after Election Day that was held June 2, the San Luis Obispo County Elections Office provided an update Tuesday morning on the ongoing count for this year's Primary Election.
According San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Public Information Specialist Erin Clausen, there are tens of thousands of ballots that remain uncounted.
"58,000 (votes) have been counted right now and we have around 48,000 remaining to be processed, counted and/or dealt with. I would say about 45,000 of those are clean, so to speak. They're ready to be processed and moved along and about, 3,000ish are going to involve those, provisional ballots and things that need to be remade."
As the counting stretches on, the Elections Office is hoping to explain to the public why the process is playing out in the current timeframe.
"I just want everybody to know that our office is following the law, following the letter of the law, going through everything very methodically, doing the work that is prescribed for us to do and so people can rest assured it's being done," said Clausen. "If you have questions, come watch it being done. This is how California's voting process plays out."
Clausen also pointed out another reason why the ongoing counting process still has several thousands of ballots that remain to be tabulated.
"This election was a little bit different in that we did not get many ballots early on in the months leading up to Election Day," said Clausen. "Most of the ballots that we got in came in at the end, right around Election Day or on Election Day itself, so that meant that we couldn't do a lot of the pre-processing that we might have done if we'd had an earlier influx of ballots. Once Election Day came and went, then we had to turn our attention to processing, that is many, many thousands of vote by mail ballots."
Late Tuesday afternoon, Clausen said the Elections Center was able to count 11,600 ballots during the day and counting would resume again on Wednesday.
With those ballots counted, the Elections Office released new vote totals at 3:30 p.m Tuesday afternoon, which included updated counts in the two supervisors races being contested in the county.
In District Two, which represents the North Coast and parts of San Luis Obispo, Jim Dantona (6,612 votes/53.59%) has stretchted his lead over Michael Erin Woody (5,726 votes/46.41%) by 886 votes.
"We're optimistic," Dantona said Tuesday morning. "Really hoping that obviously the trend continues, but again, lots of votes to count somewhere, and probably north of 5000 votes still to go, so we're being optimistic, but also knowing that the count is going to continue. I think the candidates understand we want to make sure that every legal vote is counted, that it's checked, that we are getting all the right, counts so that when the final ballots come out, we know that it's been done properly. The SLO County Recorder-Clerk's Office has done a fabulous job making sure all these legal votes are counted."
In District Four, which represents most of the South County, incumbent Jimmy Paulding (7,985 votes (54.61%) has widened his lead by 1,347 votes over challenger Adam Verdin (6,638 votes/45.39%).
"We want to wait until every vote is counted, but the fact that the margin is growing in our favor is a good thing, and I'm very optimistic," said Paulding. "We need to be patient, make sure that the process is completed, count all those votes. There is a process that is intended to make sure that we're, ensuring the safety, the security, the integrity of the electoral process. We're going through that process and patience is a virtue."
While Verdin is facing a deficit totaling more than 1,000 votes, he indicated Tuesday that his race remains active and still undecided.
"As an underdog against an incumbent who has been campaigning for the last four years we knew this was going to be a challenge," Verdin said in a statement to News Channel 3-13. "Let’s all be patient and wait for the final numbers."
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