Recount observers find another ballot to add to the District 2 supervisors race

One day and $16,995 into the recount for the District 2 Board of Supervisors race, and observers already found an extra ballot that should have been counted. County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said she’ll add it to the tally.

About 18 county staff members packed into the recount room in the Katcho Achadjian Government Center on Monday, while observers peered over their shoulders to get a look at the ballots.

Among the observers was Darcia Stebbens, the San Miguel resident who requested the recount on behalf of the Bruce Jones Campaign.

Jones lost to incumbent Supervisor Bruce Gibson by 13 votes, according to the final certified election results. Gibson finished with 11,722 votes, or 50.03%, to 11,709 votes, or 49.97%, for Jones.

Stebbens told The Tribune that she’s concerned about integrity and transparency in the election process.

“I don’t believe that it’s being counted accurately. I don’t believe that it’s one voter, one vote, one time,” Stebbens said. “I want to make our elections process better.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the recount so far.

Observer finds uncounted ballot

On Monday morning, the Elections Office allowed Stebbens and her representative, SLO County resident Richard Patten, to review a batch of “untimely envelopes,” Cano said. These are mail-in ballots that arrived too late at the Elections Office to be counted — either because they were postmarked after Election Day or arrived at the office after Nov. 15, Cano said.

Among the uncounted “untimely envelopes,” Patten discovered a ballot with two postmarks, one for Election Day and another for Nov. 9.

First, the ballot was postmarked at the Paso Robles Post Office for Nov. 8. Then, the ballot traveled to the Goleta Post Office in Santa Barbara, where it was postmarked for Nov. 9, Cano said. The Elections Office received the ballot on Nov. 10, Cano said.

This is a typical route for all mail, Cano said, as mail is always sent to the Goleta Post Office, then shipped back to the San Luis Obispo Post Office before it’s delivered to its destination, Cano said.

Election staff originally disqualified the ballot because of the Nov. 9 postmark, Cano said.

“I can see where the confusion would have been with the two different postmarks,” Cano said, and confirmed that she approved the ballot to be counted on Monday.

When election staff start tallying the ballots again, they will add this newfound ballot into its precinct and count its vote for the District 2 race, Cano said.

“We will honor that one vote,” Cano said.

Still, Cano will not have to re-certify the election — that’s only necessary if observers find so many “discrepancies that it would overturn the certification,” Cano said.

She said that this isn’t a typical error made during the canvass.

“It is just very unfortunate,” Cano said. “We try very hard to double and triple check everything. Postmarks are very important to us, especially because the voter has tried very hard to make their vote count.”

Stebbens said she was glad that the recount uncovered the ballot — regardless of who the voter supported in the District 2 election.

“It’s not about Republican, Democrat,” Stebbens said. “I want every legally cast to count, so I’m excited that we found another ballot that can be counted.”

What else happened during the first day of the recount?

At about 10 a.m. on Monday, Cano and county counsel met with Stebbens to discuss her request for relevant materials.

Along with requesting the recount, Stebbens asked to review a variety of “relevant materials,” including mail-in ballots cast without an envelope at the polls, “signature verification sheets for ‘cured’ signatures,” along with names and training attendance logs for all precinct inspectors, the request said.

For three hours, Cano and Stebbens discussed the details of her request, if the county considered those materials relevant to the recount, and whether the county could release the materials, Cano said.

“This meeting was actually very productive,” Cano said. “Things that we weren’t clear on, she was able to communicate to us really what she was looking for.”

Stebbens, however, would have preferred that the meeting happened before she paid for the recount at 10 a.m.

“I paid for that to have a two and a half hour meeting that I didn’t think needed to take place,” Stebbens said. “It’s kind of stalling time, and it’s on my clock.”

Cano said the county will allow Stebbens to examine most of the materials in her request — including confidential voter data like envelopes for mail-in ballots that show the voter’s name, address and signature.

Stebbens and her team won’t receive copies of the materials. Instead, they can only “examine and inspect” the materials without taking photos, Cano said.

When the three-hour meeting concluded, Elections Office staff sorted through 25% of SLO County’s ballots, and separated out the District 2 ballots to be counted, Cano said.

Stebbens said she was upset that she paid for a full day, when staff only sorted ballots for part of the day.

“I’m just not happy with how the processes started,” Stebbens said. “It’s definitely adversarial, hostile at times.”

Once all of the District 2 ballots are sorted into their precincts, staff will begin recounting the ballots, according to Cano.

“I do think that we are much more prepared because we just had the experience for the June recount,” Cano said.

What happens next?

About 16 staffers will work on the recount at all times, with somewhat fewer people working near the holidays, according to Cano.

In June, the Elections Office only employed eight to 12 staff members at a time for the District 4 recount, which lasted 18 days and found that the original count was 100% accurate, Cano said. Stebbens also filed for the recount in that election.

With more staff, Cano said she hopes the District 2 recount is completed more quickly. She estimated that the District 2 recount will take 14 to 15 days.

“I would love for it to be even shorter than that,” Cano said. “I don’t have a crystal ball to be able to say how quickly everybody’s going to get through everything. Some days may be more challenging than others.”

Elections staff will count Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. until the recount is “completed or terminated,” according to a news release from the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

Staff will take Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 off for the holidays, Cano told The Tribune.

Right now, election staff are separating the District 2 ballots from the rest of the county’s ballots — a process Cano estimated to last five days. Then, the office will start the manual ballot count.

Each morning, Stebbens must pay the county for the cost of that day’s recount. Stebbens gave the county about $4,500 for the recount processes on Tuesday, Cano said.

The entire recount is estimated to cost about $84,000, while the District 4 recount cost about $53,000. Cano said the additional election staff and increases in staff salaries boosted the cost of the recount.

“It can certainly go up, it can certainly go down,” Cano said. “That’s just a ballpark of what it might cost.”

The Bruce Jones campaign will reimburse Stebbens for most of the cost of the recount, though she will pay for a portion of it herself, she told The Tribune on Monday.

Stephanie Zappelli

The Tribune

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Stephanie Zappelli is the environment and immigration reporter for The Tribune. Born and raised in San Diego, they graduated from Cal Poly with a journalism degree. When not writing, they enjoy playing guitar, reading and exploring the outdoors.