SLO County Certifies Election Results – Jimmy Paulding & Jim Dantona Win Supervisor Races
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) - The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Office has officially certified the June 2, 2026 Statewide Direct Primary Election.
With the counting completed, results showed Jimmy Paulding and Jim Dantona won the two supervisor races that were contested during this year's election.
Paulding, the District 4 incumbent, beat challenger Adam Verdin by a margin of 1,487 votes.
Paulding received 11,398 votes (53.49%), while Verdin collected 9,911 votes (46.51%).
In District 2, Dantona won the race to replace longtime supervisor Bruce Gibson, who has served in the seat for the past 20 years, but did not seek re-election.
Dantona, who currently serves as Gibson's chief of staff, rallied after trailing on election night and wound up winning by 1,204 votes.
Dantona received 9,375 votes (53.43%), while Michael Erin Woody captured 8,171 votes (46.57%).
Incumbent Elaina Cano easily won re-election in a three-person for San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder.
Cano avoided a runoff in November by earning 53,455 votes (63.53%), while challengers Vanessa Rozo finished in second place with 22,482 votes (26.72% ) and Gaea Powell finished third with 8,210 votes (9.76%).
In a release, the Elections Office said over the last 10 days, staff conducted the required 1% Manual Tally, a hand count that serves to confirm the accuracy of the machine tabulators.
The office also said staff researched and confirmed the eligibility of ballots cast provisionally and remade ballots that needed to be duplicated because of damage or characteristics like red ink or stray marks that would interfere with a tabulator’s ability to scan and record the votes.
"This election was different in that we had the new legally required 13-day deadline for counting
most of the ballots,” said Cano. "At the same time, we saw a change in the flow of ballots coming in because so many people waited to vote just before or on Election Day. That meant a compressed timeline for processing and scanning many, many
thousands of mail ballots."
The voter turnover countywide was 55%, a number six percentage points higher than the last gubernatorial primary, in June 2022.
"SLO County continues to rank among the highest in overall turnout, which I think speaks to the
engagement of our voters as well as the faith they have in our local elections processes," said
Cano. “I’m proud of our voters, our staff, and all of the community members who stepped up
and came together to ensure a successful election."
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