Election results in some SLO County races may not be known for days. Here’s why.

Will the thousands of San Luis Obispo County voters who head to the polls Tuesday know the election results when they go to bed Tuesday night?

In a word: Maybe.

In past years, the outcome of some extremely close races wasn’t known for a week or more, as election officials hurried to count provisional and vote-by-mail ballots that weren’t tallied on election night.

“Like we say, it’s never over until it’s over,” said San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong, whose office has 28 days to certify the election results.

A record 168,257 registered voters in the county are eligible to cast a ballot in the general election. The clerk’s office has issued a record number of vote-by-mail ballots — about 121,000 as of Monday afternoon — with 69,795 returned so far, Gong said.

After the polls close at 8 p.m., unofficial results will be posted on the clerk-recorder’s election and voting page. The initial report will reflect most of the vote-by-mail ballots that have been returned as of Saturday, about 60,000 to 62,000 ballots.

Updated results from ballots cast at the polls will be posted every hour or so, Gong said. He hopes all of the ballots cast at the polls are counted by midnight.

In the following days, Gong’s staff will have to count any remaining vote-by-mail ballots — including all of those returned by the end of the day Monday, at the polls Tuesday, or in the mail but postmarked Nov. 8 — as well as any provisional ballots.

The process takes longer because signatures must be checked on every ballot. Gong said he plans to have the vast majority of any outstanding vote-by-mail ballots counted by Friday, after he and his sons play taps at the Veterans Day ceremony at the Faces of Freedom Veterans Memorial in Atascadero.

“Especially in those smaller districts, every vote really does count,” Gong said, recalling the Pismo Beach mayoral race two years ago, in which Mayor Shelly Higginbotham won by two votes. The result was confirmed in a recount about three weeks after Election Day.

But the 1986 Pismo Beach City Council race was even closer. That year, Mayor Nebb Eldwayen kept his seat by one vote. He reportedly gave himself the nickname “Landslide Nebb” after the election.

This story was originally published November 7, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Election results in some SLO County races may not be known for days. Here’s why.."