SLO County election update: Here’s the winners, losers and races still too close to call
With only a handful of ballots remaining to be counted, the majority of San Luis Obispo County races were all but decided as of Monday — though there are some stragglers still up in the air.
According to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s office, roughly 4,927 ballots remain to be counted; that includes 2,438 vote-by-mail ballots received on or after Election Night, 2,362 provisional ballots that have to be verified by officials and 127 Election Night ballots that were not processed for a number of reasons.
This means 97% of votes to date have been tallied.
Here is the status of those races as of Monday’s release, and how many votes remain to be counted in each jurisdiction.
Atascadero: Moreno, Bourbeau and Dariz are in
In Atascadero, incumbent Mayor Heather Moreno has won re-election, while the city’s voters have chosen Charles Bourbeau and Mark Dariz to join the council.
As of Monday evening, Moreno led challengers Jerry Tanimoto and Josh Donovan with 7,122 votes, or 43.7%. Tanimoto followed behind with 33.2%, with Donovan in last place with 23.1%.
In the City Council race, Bourbeau continued to be the top vote-getter with 27.9% of the vote, followed by Dariz at 25%.
Tori Keen got 22.6% of the vote, Nicholas Mattson 18.4% and Bret Heinemann 6.2%
Meanwhile, Atascadero residents voted largely in favor of Measure D, a measure that would increase the city’s sales tax by 1%. The measure had 58.6% support as of the Monday ballot count, well over the 50%-plus-1 required to pass.
As of Monday evening, 443 Atascadero ballots remained to be counted.
Grover Beach: Two-year seat still up in air
The race to lead Grover Beach continued in the same way as it has for the past week — with incumbents leading the pack.
As of Monday’s results, incumbent Mayor Jeff Lee has secured another term in office with 70.2% of the 6,582 votes counted so far. His only challenger, Elizabeth Doukas, brought in 1,763 votes, or 29.8%
The distance between the top two candidates competing for the two open four-year seats on the City Council stayed roughly the same as well, meaning Karen Bright and Anna Miller have both won four-year spots on the council.
As of Monday , Bright had 30.1% of the vote and Anna Miller had 22.7%.
Candidate Will Bruce had 17.6%, Daniel Rushing had 15% and Joseph Holmes had 14.5%.
The race for Grover Beach’s only open two-year spot was still neck and neck, meaning the final decision will likely come down to the few votes still outstanding in the city.
According to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office, 284 ballots from Grover Beach still have to be counted.
Since only 48 votes separate leader Robert Robert and candidate David Duringer, it’s still anyone’s game for the coveted two-year seat on the council. As of Monday, Robert had 34.4% of the vote compared with Duringer’s 33.5%.
Grover Beach voters also narrowly turned out in favor of a 1% city sales tax increase, with 52.3% saying yes as of the latest results. The measures needs a 50%-plus-1 decision to pass.
Morro Bay: Who will be mayor? Could come down to 150 ballots left
Morro Bay’s mayoral race tightened even further with the latest round of results.
Only 150 ballots remain to be counted in the city, but as of Monday, the margin between incumbent Mayor John Headding and challenger John Weiss has narrowed to only 110 votes.
Headding held down 50.8% of the vote to Weiss’ 49.2%.
Though it is possible for Weiss to come from behind in the last minute, he would need nearly all of the remaining votes to catch Headding.
Election results for the Morro Bay City Council remained largely the same as of Monday, meaning Robert “Red” Davis and Laurel Barton will join the council next year.
Davis had 27.6% of the vote and Barton 26.7%; Betty Winholtz followed with 23.2% of the vote and Richard Sadowski with 22.5%.
Morro Bay’s Measure E, a 1% sales tax increase, held down 58.6% of the vote as of the latest results, securing its passing even with any new votes that may come in.
Paso Robles: Strong takes District 4
In Paso Robles’ first-ever district election, District 4 has been won by Councilman Fred Strong. As of Monday, Strong led opponent Jacob Allred by 630 votes, taking home 62% of the 3,157 votes counted for the district.
Though the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office does not provide a breakdown of votes remaining by district, 534 votes remain to be counted across the entire city.
Sales tax increase Measure J in Paso Robles passed based on the latest results, with 56.3% of votes cast in its favor.
Pismo Beach: Guthrie, Howell still too close to call
The battle between two Pismo Beach City Council incumbents was even tighter as of Monday’s release and is one of the few local races still up in the air.
According to the latest numbers, longtime Councilman Erik Howell trailed newcomer Scott Newton and Councilwoman Marcia Guthrie in the fight for the two open council seats.
Newton had 35.4% of the vote as of Monday, but Guthrie and Howell were running neck-and-neck with 23.6% and 23.1% of the vote, respectively. The two were separated by only 51 votes.
With only 118 Pismo Beach votes still to be counted, the City Council race could still go either way.
Meanwhile, Debora Ann Lossing and James Robert Prichard ended their campaigns with about 10.1% and 7.9% of the vote, respectively.
Mayor Ed Waage has also secured re-election over challenger Dan Shadwell, with 59.8% of the vote to Shadwell’s 40%.
Additionally, Pismo Beach voters voted overwhelmingly for a transient occupancy tax placed on hotel rooms, with 81.1% of voters saying yes.
San Luis Obispo: Harmon, Pease and Marx likely in
Only 942 San Luis Obispo results remain to be counted, so Mayor Heidi Harmon has easily secured her third term with 52.5% of the vote.
As of Monday evening, challengers Cherisse Sweeney had 34%, Sandra Marshall-Eminger 11.6% and Donald Hedrick 1.7%.
As for the City Council: It’s all familiar faces.
Councilwoman Andrea “Andy” Pease and former mayor Jan Marx both held their leads over the other candidates as of Monday’s release, with 23.7% and 19.5% of the vote, respectively.
Abrianna Torres took home 18.2%, James Papp took 11.5%, Kelly Evans had 11%, Robin Wolf had 6%, Erik Long had 5.8% and Jeffery Specht came in last with 4.4%.
Though the margin between Marx and Torres is only 524 votes, it would be difficult for her to overcome Marx at this stage in the game (though not unprecedented).
No matter, it does appear SLO is definitely electing its first all-female city council, as was previously reported.
San Luis Obispo’s 1% sales tax increase, Measure G, also passed with 57.8% of the vote as of Monday.
School bonds: Shandon’s passes, Atascadero and San Miguel still too close
Three San Luis Obispo County school districts had bond measures on the ballot. The money from each bond goes to school facility improvements, if approved by voters.
Each bond measures needs at least 55% of the vote to pass.
So far, only Shandon Joint Unified School District’s $4 million bond, Measure H, is passing with 61.9% of the voters’ approval.
Atascadero Unified School District’s $40 million bond, Measure C, has about 54.2% of the vote. For the measure to pass, the school district would need 465 of the remaining 555 ballots to be a “yes” vote.
San Miguel Joint Union School District’s $6.2 million bond, Measure I, has about 54.5% approval from voters. Because the voter pool in San Miguel is smaller than in Atascadero, the next few hundred votes coming in may tip the school bond measure over the 55% approval benchmark.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 7:25 PM.
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