Pismo Beach recount confirms Higginbotham won mayor's seat

The results of a recount in the Pismo Beach mayor’s race ended Tuesday morning with the same outcome — Pismo Beach Mayor Shelly Higginbotham won by two votes.

Kevin Kreowski, who challenged Higginbotham in the Nov. 4 election, formally requested a recount Friday. Counting started Monday morning and wrapped up about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday.

A relieved-sounding Higginbotham said the recount was the right thing to do and thanked Kreowski for requesting it as soon as he could.

“We all wanted closure for each other, for the community and for the staff as well,” Higginbotham said by phone Tuesday. “Now we’re ready to move forward and get on with the business of the city.”

Kreowski could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to official election results, Kreowski lost by two votes — Higginbotham received 1,637 votes to Kreowski’s 1,635.

The total cost of the recount was $2,489, San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald said. Since the results did not change, Kreowski will not be refunded the cost of the recount.

Supporters had raised $3,330 for the recount effort with online fundraising site GoFundMe.com.

Rodewald said one recount board — composed of four people and a supervisor — on Monday counted all of the ballots cast at Pismo Beach precincts and some of the vote-by-mail ballots.

On Tuesday, two recount boards finished the rest of the vote-by-mail ballots. Rodewald also explained to the candidates how the elections staff checks signatures on mail-in and provisional ballots because ballots can be rejected if the signature is missing or doesn’t match what’s on file with her office.

In all, 3,451 ballots were counted in a manual tally. Of those, 10 included write-in names and 169 ballots were blank, meaning they did not have a vote for a mayor at all, Rodewald said.

Higginbotham said that going forward she’ll reach out to residents to learn more about key issues that may have cost her their vote.

For many Pismo Beach voters, the mayor and council races were about one issue: a large, now-defunct development proposed for Price Canyon.

Also, some Shell Beach residents were concerned that the City Council’s acceptance of the Chapman Estate on Ocean Boulevard would lead to more traffic, noise and parking problems during events there.

“Let’s find out what the key issues are so that the residents feel good about the City Council and about the direction that the city is going,” Higginbotham said.

She said she may look into setting up more neighborhood meetings, or restart quarterly meetings at two mobile home parks where council members visited residents on a rotating basis.

“I think it’s important that the constituency get to know the entire City Council,” she said.

This story was originally published November 25, 2014 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Pismo Beach recount confirms Higginbotham won mayor's seat."