Nail-biting SLO County school board race has candidates in dead heat after Election Night
With only 83 votes separating some candidates, the race for three seats on the Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees continued to be a nail-biter Wednesday.
Five candidates are competing for three seats on the school board — the top three vote-getters will be elected into office.
As of the most recent tallies, released at 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, Joey Arnold narrowly sat in first with 21.9% of the vote. Incumbent Corinne Kuhnle followed close behind with 21% of the vote, as did Veronica DeCoster with 20%.
But just 83 votes separated DeCoster from challenger Jodi Taylor, who had received 19.6% of the vote as of early Wednesday morning.
“I have confidence that the voters know what they want for the board and it looks like I came up short with the current vote total,” Taylor told The Tribune in an email Thursday. She added that she believes Arnold and Kuhnle share her values, and will represent the community well.
“I do not know Roni personally but with the amount of support from the voters, they must feel confident she will represent them well. I was disappointed in the loss but give myself grace in it,” Taylor added.
DeCoster said she was thankful for the community support and hopes to remain in the top three, but knows results are “still up in the air.”
“I’m a bit surprised by how close the race is when there were some candidates who were more experienced and better qualified than others,” DeCoster told The Tribune on Wednesday.
DeCoster said she believed incumbent Matt Pennon — who lagged behind the pack with 17.5% of the vote — deserved to retain his seat on the board.
Pennon told The Tribune he was disappointed by Tuesday night’s results and believed the results highlighted that “homophobia is alive and well” in the community. Pennon is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Voters chose party over experience and commitment to our school system,” Pennon told The Tribune.
He said he hopes the district can continue to make improvements and not be brought into the “culture wars.”
Previously on Tuesday night, Kuhnle told The Tribune that it was a “good night.”
“Our system works, and we’re ready to move forward and get to work,” Kuhnle said.
Arnold and Taylor could not immediately be reached for comment.
Wednesday’s final ballot count release included vote-by-mail ballots received by the county’s elections office up to Saturday, as well as ballots cast in person at polling locations on Tuesday.
In total, 11,163 votes were counted in the race, representing about 43.3% of the total registered population.
The results are still subject to change as more vote-by-mail ballots are counted in the coming days.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 12:12 PM.
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