Confused about this election? Here’s which SLO County races could be decided tonight
Are you confused about exactly which races will be decided by today’s primary and which will instead have to wait til November to have a winner?
Never fear, SLO County — we’ve got answers for you.
Thanks to California’s top-two primary system, some races (mostly larger state races) will continue on to the general election this fall no matter what, while other (this time mostly local) races will be decided once all the primary votes are counted in the coming weeks.
So which races are definitely moving on to November? Those include biggies like the bid to be governor, as well as a senator race, the District 19 and District 24 congressional races and the District 30 and 37 state Assembly races.
In those, the top-two vote-getters — regardless of party or if one candidate receives a majority of the vote — will advance to a general election.
Now the more tricky situation: local races.
According to state law, nonpartisan races (namely county or local government positions) can end at the primary if one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
If one candidate doesn’t get a majority of the vote, then the contest will advance to the general election in November.
This means races like the one for District 4 supervisor, which has only two candidates running for the seat, will likely be decided in this election.
The other multi-candidate supervisor races for District 2 and District 3 could potentially go on to a general election, however, depending on whether a candidate secures a majority of the vote (same story for the county clerk-recorder race).
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in those races, the top-two vote-getters will move on to the November election.
Final primary election results could take weeks
Meanwhile, it’s likely SLO County voters won’t know the official results of many of these primary races for several weeks.
Despite a glut of results on election night, which will include already-counted vote-by-mail ballots and those tallied from polling places, it could take some time for the remainder of the ballots to be counted.
This is because the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office will not only still have late ballots arriving, but it must also verify any conditional ballots that were turned in.
Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said Monday her office plans on certifying the election by July 1, but legally has until July 7.
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