Who will win SLO County supervisor race? Here’s when the final count will be released
San Luis Obispo County vote watchers will have to wait another week for final election results deciding who will be the next District 2 supervisor, as well as with a handful of other tight contests.
The SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office will start the final ballot count on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m., according to a news release Wednesday from County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.
Cano will announce the results at the end of the count.
The county’s deadline to certify the election is Dec. 8, and Cano will release the official election results by then, she said.
Elections staff have about 9,872 ballots left to count, according to a county report.
In the county’s most-watched race, incumbent Supervisor Bruce Gibson is clinging to a 37-vote lead over challenger Bruce Jones, after Jones chewed up nearly all of Gibson’s 781-vote advantage in the last count update on Nov. 23. Gibson currently leads with 50.02% of the vote to Jones 49.92%.
Why is the ballot count taking so long?
Voters have until Dec. 5 to cure mismatched signatures on their mail-in ballot, and the Elections Office must wait until then to complete the count.
About 950 voters still need to return their correction letters.
Every voter must sign the outside of their mail-in ballot before turning it in. If a voter’s signature doesn’t match the county records, or they neglected to sign the envelope altogether, the county mails them a notice to come confirm that they completed the ballot and fix their signature.
Voters must cure their ballots by 5 p.m. on Dec. 5 and can do so by mailing a signed statement to the Elections Office in the envelope provided with the notice, emailing a signed statement to elections@co.slo.ca.gov, faxing a signed statement to 805-781-1111, or delivering a signed statement to the Elections Office at 1055 Monterey St.
