Election results update: See the latest batch of vote totals in SLO County
Over two weeks after Election Day, the elections office is slowly but surely making its way through the hundreds of thousands of ballots cast and tallying up votes for races across San Luis Obispo County.
On Wednesday afternoon, the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office added 25,600 more ballots to the 103,348 already counted, bringing the current total to nearly 130,000 and leaving close to 25,000 left to tally.
The most recent round of results as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday continued to solidify many candidates’ paths to victory, while other races remained locked in close competition.
In the race for Paso Robles City Council, the nail-biting battle between Kris Beal and Sharon Roden for the District 1 seat remained one of the tightest races in SLO County, with the pair separated by only 71 votes, or 43.1% to 40.1%.
Meanwhile on the school board, Nathan Williams, Laurene D. McCoy, Leo Castillo and Kenney Enney held onto their leads for the four open seats, though Adelita Hiteshew closely trailed Castillo by 111 votes.
In Atascadero, Seth Peek and Mark Dariz remained all but tied for two seats on the City Council, while Tori Keen trailed only 3 percentage points behind.
As for the city’s school board, Joey Arnold, Corinne Kuhnle and Jodi Taylor held onto the lead for three open seats. Veronica DeCoster lost some ground in her close challenge for third, now trailing Taylor by 236 votes. Matt Pennon was well behind and slipping out of the race.
A Templeton school district bond is still too close to call just yet, only three votes away from passing.
Down south in the Lucia Mar school board race, the race flipped with Mike Fuller now in the lead over Vicki Meagher by 25 votes in Trustee Area 4.
In Grover Beach, first-time candidate Kassi Dee is heading to becoming the city’s next mayor, leading opponent Debbie Peterson by 415 votes, an increase of 181 from the last update.
As for the City Council race, Kathy McCorry and Marsha Bolyanatz remained closely separated by only 49 votes for the District 3 seat, while District 2 Councilmember Dan Rushing appears to be heading toward recall.
In Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo, the cities’ incumbent mayors Caren Ray Russom, Ed Waage and Erica Stewart are expected to return to office with early and decisive wins, and newcomer Mike Boswell will join Jan Marx on the SLO City Council.
At the state level, all six seats up for election have been claimed incumbent candidates.
This year’s post-election canvass is taking longer than usual due to a higher volume of mail-in and provisional ballots than ever before, Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said. The elections office received almost 50,000 mailed ballots this election, each of which requires an extensive verification process, Cano said.
Cano has until Dec. 3 to certify the results of the election, she said.
The elections office will continue counting ballots until then and is expected to release new updates at least once a week, she said.
Here are the latest numbers for local races for city councils, mayors, school boards and more.
SLO County mayoral and city council races
Front-runners for the number of seats available are in bold.
Paso Robles City Council
District 1 seat:
- Kris Beal, 43.1%
- Sharon Roden, 40.1%
- Linda George, 16.8%
District 3 seat:
- Steve Gregory, 44.1%
- Michael Rivera, 34.5%
- Jeff Carr, 21.4%
Atascadero City Council
- Seth Peek, 34.8%
- Mark Dariz, 34.1%
- Tori Keen, 31%
Grover Beach mayor
- Kassi Dee, 43.5%
- Debbie Peterson, 35.3%
- Robert Robert, 21.2%
Grover Beach City Council
District 3 seat:
- Kathy McCorry, 52.8%
- Marsha Bolyanatz, 47.1%
District 2 recall of Councilmember Dan Rushing:
- Yes, 54.8%
- No, 45.2%
Arroyo Grande mayor
- Caren Ray Russom, 64.5%
- Gaea Powell, 35.6%
Arroyo Grande City Council
District 3 seat:
- Jamie Maraviglia, 56.3%
- Marlea Harmon, 43.7%
Pismo Beach mayor
Ed Waage, 64.5%
Kevin Kreowski, 35.5%
Pismo Beach City Council
- Scott Newton, 48.5%
- Marcia Guthrie, 36.2%
- Gianni Scangarello, 15.3%
San Luis Obispo mayor
Erica Stewart, 85.3%
Donald Hedrick, 14.7%
San Luis Obispo City Council
- Jan Marx, 38.2%
- Mike Boswell, 34.3%
- John Drake, 17.5%
- Felicia Lewis, 10%
School board results
Front-runners for the number of seats available in bold.
Atascadero school board
- Joey Arnold, 22.8%
- Corinne Kuhnle, 20.9%
- Jodi Taylor, 20.1%
- Veronica DeCoster, 19.4%
- Matt Pennon, 16.7%
Paso Robles school board
Trustee Area 3 seat:
- Nathan Williams, 64.2%
- Hunter Breese, 35.9%
Trustee Area 5 seat:
- Laurene McCoy, 55.6%
- Tim Gearhart, 44.4%
Trustee Area 6 seat:
- Leo Castillo, 52.7%
- Adelita Hiteshew, 47.3%
Trustee Area 7 seat:
- Kenney Enney, 59.4%
- Tracy Dauterman, 40.6%
Templeton school board
Matt Allison, 27.7%
- Ted Dubost, 27.6%
- Cheryl Parks, 26.8%
- Jason Tesarz, 18%
San Luis Coastal school board
- Erica Flores Baltodano, 72%
- Eve Hinton, 28.1%
Cayucos Elementary school board
Trustee Area 4
- Peter Schuler, 56.8%
Scott Smith, 43.2%
Trustee Area 5
- Dan Puett, 76.4%
Susan Brownell, 23.6%
Lucia Mar school board
Trustee Area 1
Don Stewart, 53.8%
Paul Bischoff, 46.2%
Trustee Area 3
Dee Santos, 53.2%
Paul Hively, 46.8%
Trustee Area 4
Mike Fuller, 50.2%
Vicki Meagher, 49.8%
Ballot measures
Paso Robles Measure I-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Pismo Beach Measure F-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Arroyo Grande Measure E-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Morro Bay Measure A-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Grover Beach Measure G-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Atascadero Measure L-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Atascadero Measure M-24, needs majority vote to pass:
Atascadero School District Measure B-24, needs 55% to pass:
Lucia Mar School District Measure H-24, needs 55% to pass:
Templeton School District Measure D-24, needs 55% to pass:
Cambria Community Healthcare District’s Measure C-24, needs a two-thirds vote and the simultaneous approval of Proposition 5 to pass:
Latest results from CSDs and Port San Luis Harbor District
Oceano Community Services District
Division 1 seat:
Linda Austin, 79.5%
Angela Smith, 20.5%
Division 5 seat:
- Shirley Gibson, 57%
- Charles Varni, 43%
Nipomo Community Services District
- John Joyce, 50.8%
- Philip Henry, 38.2%
- James Wejrowki, 11%
Port San Luis Harbor District
- Richard Scangarello, 60.2%
- Katie Lichtig, 39.8%
Who is ahead in state races?
Congress
District 19
- Jimmy Panetta, 70.6%
- Jason Anderson, 29.4%
District 24
- Salud Carbajal, 63%
- Thomas Cole, 37%
State Senate
District 17
- John Laird, 66,4%
- Tony Virrueta, 33.6%
District 21
Monique Limon, 63.5%
Elijack Mack, 36.5%
State Assembly
District 30
Dawn Addis, 64.6%
Dalila Epperson, 35.4%
District 37
Gregg Hart, 61.1%
Sari Domingues, 38.9%
Did SLO County voters favor Harris or Trump?
Contrary to the elections’ nationwide results, San Luis Obispo County voters significantly favored Vice President Kamala Harris over former and future President Donald Trump, according to the vote count.
As of 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 54.5% of ballots counted were cast for Harris, compared to Trump’s 42.7%.
The totals were a near match to 2020, when President Joe Biden took home 55.3% of the San Luis Obispo County vote, while Trump garnered 42.2%.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Election results update: See the latest batch of vote totals in SLO County."
