Recount for SLO County’s District 4 race will cost more than $100,000. Who’s paying for it?
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s office is scheduled to start a manual recount of ballots cast in the District 4 Board of Supervisors race — and it won’t be cheap.
The recount will cost about $103,186, Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said, but the county won’t foot the bill.
Darcia Stebbens, the Paso Robles resident who requested the recount, must cover the cost. She’ll have to pay about $2,929 each day of the count, which is estimated to last 36 days, Cano said.
The recount will check if the Clerk-Recorder’s Office accurately counted District 4 votes the first time.
According to the certified election tally, Arroyo Grande City Councilmember Jimmy Paulding defeated incumbent Lynn Compton for the District 4 seat by 639 votes.
The two candidates previously competed for the seat in 2018, when Compton won by 60 votes. No one requested a recount to challenge the 2018 results.
Stebbens requested this year’s recount on behalf of Compton, “but not necessarily the request of” the incumbent, the news release said. She has not responded to the Tribune’s requests for comment.
Compton also has not responded to the Tribune’s requests for comment, but she told New Times on July 13 that she accepts the election results and was not involved in the request for a recount.
If Stebbens deposits enough funds to pay for the first day, the recount will start at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
If the Paso Robles woman doesn’t pay the county, Cano will cancel the recount, she said.
Stebbens will forfeit the funds if the certified ballot count is accurate.
If the recount reveals that there were enough miscounted votes to overturn the election, the county will return a portion of the funds to Stebbens, according to a news release from the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
The county will also return any money not used for the recount to Stebbens, the release said.
The recount will take place at the Elections Office on Monterey Street, Cano said. Temporary elections workers will return to assist with the count.
Recounts occur in teams of four people — one person reads the ballot and calls out the vote, two others tally the vote, and a fourth person checks the call and the tally for accuracy, Cano said.
Cano and Deputy Director Melissa Lile will oversee the count.
Cano said that the recount distracts from preparing for the November election.
“All the time that is spent on the recount takes away from the time that staff could be focused on the current election,” Cano said. “However, voters have the right to make a recount request.”
The law permits any registered California voter to request a recount for state and local races. That’s why Stebbens can request a recount in District 4 even though she lives in District 1.
This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 4:47 PM.
