Election update: Here’s the latest on who is winning in SLO County races
Many local races have narrowed in the first post-Election Night ballot count, potentially foreshadowing some big changes, according to new results released by the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
The office previously said just under 50,000 ballots, most of them vote-by-mail, remained to be counted as of this week.
After the newest count, about 33,405 ballots remain, meaning most races are close to 80% done as of Friday.
These outstanding ballots could potentially impact a number of the tighter races across San Luis Obispo County, especially ones in which in-person voters significantly impacted Election Night percentages.
Here is the status of the local races as of Friday’s release.
Atascadero: Only 40 votes separate City Council candidates
In Atascadero, incumbent Mayor Heather Moreno continued her lead, while the top two vote-getters racing for City Council widened their leads over their competitors.
As of Friday evening, Moreno led challengers Jerry Tanimoto and Josh Donovan with 5,930 votes, or 43.7%. Tanimoto followed behind with 34.4%, with Donovan in last place with 21.9%.
In the City Council race, Charles Bourbeau continued to be the highest vote-getter with 28% of the vote, while Mark Dariz (24.9%) widened his lead over Tori Keen (23.45). The two were previously separated by a mere 40 votes, but as of Friday’s count, that margin had grown to 308 votes.
Nicholas Mattson followed behind with 17.8% of the vote, and Bret Heinemann came in last place with 5.9%
Meanwhile, Atascadero residents voted in favor of Measure D, a measure that would increase the city’s sales tax by 1%. That had 59.3% support as of the latest ballot count.
As of Friday evening, 4,175 Atascadero ballots remained to be counted.
Grover Beach: Incumbents lead in Election Night results
Grover Beach’s results as of Friday remained largely the same from Election Night tallies.
Incumbent Mayor Jeff Lee widened his lead over challenger Elizabeth Doukas, bringing in 70.6% of the vote compared to Doukas’ 29.4%.
The distance between the top two candidates competing for the two open four-year seats on the City Council stayed roughly the same.
As of Friday, councilwoman Karen Bright had about 30.7% of the vote and Anna Miller had 22.8%, while Will Bruce had 17.2%, Daniel Rushing at 15.2% and Joseph Holmes had 14.1%.
The race for Grover Beach’s only open two-year spot was neck and neck.
Only 10 votes separate current leader Robert Robert and candidate David Duringer — meaning that race is still open to some massive shifts as more ballots are counted.
As of Friday, Robert had 33.8% of the vote compared with Duringer’s 33.6%.
Grover Beach voters also narrowly turned out in favor of a 1% city sales tax increase, with 52.9% saying yes as of the latest results. The measures needs a 50% plus 1 decision to pass.
As of Friday evening, 1,849 Grover Beach ballots remained to be counted.
Morro Bay: Most ballots counted, still room for reversals
Morro Bay’s mayoral race also tightened.
As of Friday, the margin between incumbent Mayor John Headding and challenger John Weiss has narrowed to only 189 votes.
Headding led with 51.6% of the vote, followed by Weiss’ 48.4%.
Election results for the Morro Bay City Council remained largely the same.
In the race for the two open seats, Robert “Red” Davis had 27.7% of the vote, followed by Laurel Barton with 27.2%
More than 430 votes separated Barton from the third-highest vote getter, Betty Winholtz, who had 23% of the vote as of Friday’s count. Richard Sadowski had 22.1%
Morro Bay’s Measure E, a 1% sales tax increase, held down 59.3% of the vote as of the latest results, putting it well on its way to being passed.
As of Friday evening, 1,315 Morro Bay ballots remained to be counted.
Paso Robles: Strong still well ahead of council challenger
This year marked Paso Robles’ first ever district election.
District 3 went unchallenged to solo candidate Steve Gregory, while Councilman Fred Strong led opponent Jacob Allred by 541 votes, a slightly larger number than on Election Night.
Strong had 61.9% of the vote compared to Allred’s 38.1% as of Friday.
Sales tax increase Measure J in Paso Robles was passing with a narrow margin as of the latest results, with 56.7% of votes cast in its favor.
As of Friday evening, 3,298 Paso Robles ballots remained to be counted, though specifically how many remain in District 4 is unclear.
Pismo Beach: Close numbers could impact council switch-up
Election results in Pismo Beach were largely unchanged, including the potential battle over which of the city’s incumbents will return to the council.
As of Friday night, incumbent Mayor Ed Waage had 59.3% of the vote, an 850-vote lead over challenger Dan Shadwell.
Meanwhile, Scott Newton and Marcia Guthrie led for the two open City Council seats, with 35.1% and 24.4% of the vote, respectively.
Longtime council member Erik Howell was behind Guthrie by roughly 127 votes. Debora Ann Lossing and James Robert Prichard followed with 10% and 7.9% of the vote, respectively.
Additionally, Pismo Beach voters voted overwhelmingly for a transient occupancy tax placed on hotel rooms, with 81.9% of voters saying yes.
As of Friday evening, 1,085 Pismo Beach ballots remained to be counted.
San Luis Obispo: Harmon far ahead, City Council seats closer
In San Luis Obispo, Mayor Heidi Harmon has likely secured her third term and the city is on its way to electing its first-ever all female City Council.
As of Friday evening, Harmon led the mayoral candidates with 53.2% of the vote, compared with Cherisse Sweeney’s 33.5%, Sandra Marshall-Eminger’s 11.8% and Donald Hedrick’s 1.6%.
Though the margin was narrower among San Luis Obispo City Council candidates, incumbent councilwoman Andrea “Andy” Pease (24.2%) and former mayor Jan Marx (19.9%) both continued solid leads over challengers Abrianna Torres (17.6%), James Papp (11.5%), Kelly Evans (11.1%), Robin Wolf (5.8%), Erik Long (5.7%) and Jeffery Specht (4.3%).
San Luis Obispo’s 1% sales tax increase, Measure G, was on the way to passing with 58.6% of the vote.
As of Friday evening, 4,982 San Luis Obispo ballots remained to be counted.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 5:54 PM.
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