SLO County election update: Gibson falls under 50% as Compton cuts into Paulding’s lead
The District 2 San Luis Obispo County supervisor race is getting closer to a runoff in the general election.
On Wednesday, incumbent Bruce Gibson fell below 50% of the vote, which is the threshold for sending him and the second-highest vote-getter to a runoff in the general election.
For the District 4 race, Jimmy Paulding’s lead is tightening, with incumbent Lynn Compton winning a larger share of the votes than she has in previous tallies. The District 3 race, however, is looking more decisive, as Dawn Ortiz-Legg has held a strong lead over her challengers since election night.
On Wednesday, the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office counted 6,783 ballots, bringing the total counted so far to 70,681. That leaves roughly 17,343 votes left to count.
The Clerk-Recorder’s Office also started a 1% manual tally of the ballots on Monday to check the accuracy of the ballot-counting machines, according to a press release from Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.
Bruce Gibson drops below 50% of the vote in District 2
If the latest trend holds, the District 2 race is headed to a general election showdown in November.
Incumbent Bruce Gibson kicked off election night with a lead of 445 votes. Last week, however, his lead narrowed by 33 votes on Tuesday and then 526 on Friday, which landed him at exactly 50% of the vote — the threshold for a runoff in the general election.
On Wednesday, Gibson’s three challengers collectively exceeded him by 207 votes in the latest tally, putting him at 49.3% of the vote, and increasing the chances of a runoff.
If Gibson wins less than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November.
As of Wednesday, Bruce Jones was poised to challenge Gibson in the general election, with 18.7% of the vote. Geoff Auslen followed close behind with 17.1%, and John Whitworth trailed with 14.9%.
Jones now leads Auslen by 226 votes for the No. 2 spot.
So far, 15,195 ballots have been counted in District 2. Voter turnout there is 41.3% — the highest in the county.
Dawn-Ortiz Legg holds lead in District 3 race
Incumbent Dawn Ortiz-Legg continues to cruise to easy victory in the District 3 race.
On election night, she established herself as the front-runner with a 2,619-vote lead, and she’s only widened that gap with each successive count.
On Wednesday, she add another 321-vote gain and now holds a lead of 4,783 votes with 64.5% of the total. Her challenger, Stacy Korsgaden, has 32.3% of the vote, and Arnold Ruiz is at 3.1%.
In District 3, 15,758 ballots have been counted so far, bringing voter turnout to 40.9%.
Jimmy Paulding’s lead tightens in District 4
After opening a lead of as much as 1,832 votes on June 14, Jimmy Paulding has given back some of that edge in each of the last two tallies.
His lead now stands at 1,580 votes, giving him 55.1% to Lynn Compton’s 45%, after the trailing incumbent trimmed 195 votes off the Arroyo Grande City Councilman’s advantage.
Last Tuesday, Paulding took home 59 more votes than Compton, before losing 57 votes on his lead Friday — putting him back where he was a week previously.
Voter turnout is at about 40.3% in District 4, with 16,126 ballots counted so far.
Where other SLO County races stand
Incument Elaina Cano maintained her lead in the county clerk-recorder race Wednesday with 64% of the vote, followed by James Baugh with 20.6% and Stew Jenkins with 15.4%.
The race for Office 12 county judgeship didn’t budge. As of Wednesday, Mike Frye led with 66.8% of the vote, and Paul Phillips trailed with 33.2%.
For the partial term on Morro Bay City Council, Jennifer Ford kept her lead with 57.8% of the vote, and James Costanzo trailed with 42.2%.
The Oceano fire tax, which needs a two-thirds vote to pass, is on its way to failure. On Wednesday, 56.8% of voters had supported the measure, and 43.2% were against it.
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