SLO County had one of highest voter turnouts in California election. How it did
San Luis Obispo County’s votes from Nov. 4’s special statewide election were officially certified Tuesday, with local voter turnout coming in as one of the highest in the state, the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder said in a news release.
San Luis Obispo County voters had a 67% turnout, which was 17% higher than the statewide average of 50% and the fourth-highest turnout among all 58 California counties, San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said in the release.
The bulk of the vote tabulation was completed on Nov. 17, the release said, but voters had until 5 p.m. on Nov. 30 to cure missing or mismatched signatures on their return envelopes. Their ballots were counted and votes were added to the results once they provided verifiable signatures, the release said.
Elections staff also had to research more than 2,000 provisional ballots, the release said.
Provisional ballots are submitted when someone registers to vote on Election Day and/or are voting at a precinct that is not their assigned location, the release said. Provisional ballots must be logged and transferred onto a ballot from the correct precinct by a team of three people before it can be counted.
Most provisional ballots that were researched came from polling locations at and around Cal Poly, the release said.
SLO County voter turnout by the numbers
Cano will release a statement of votes cast by Thursday, which will include a detailed breakout of voting participation by precinct, the release said. The Clerk-Recorder did release some early statistics that show voter participation by party, county supervisor district and city and community services districts, however.
For Proposition 50, 54.71% of San Luis Obispo County voters voted “yes” while 45.29% voted “no,” the release said.
Democrats had the highest voter turnout, at 73%, while Republicans vollowed closely behind with 68% of voter participation.
American Independents had a 58% voter turnout, Green Party voters had a 54% turnout and registered voters without a party preference had a 53% turnout. Registered libertarians had a 47% turnout and the Peace and Freedom Party had a 34% turnout.
For county supervisor districts, District 2 had the highest turnout with 71%. District 3 followed with 66%, both District 4 and District 5 had 65% and District 1 had 63%.
Pismo Beach and Morro Bay both had the highest turnout rate for cities with 70%. Arroyo Grande had a 68% voter turnout, Atascadero 65%, San Luis Obispo 64% and Paso Robles and Grover Beach both had a 61% voter turnout.
CSD voter turnout was:
- Squire Canyon Community Services District: 79%
- Cambria: 77%
- Linne: 75%
- Los Osos: 74%
- Independence Ranch: 73%
- Avila Beach: 67%
- Ground Squirrel Hollow: 66%
- San Simeon: 65%
- Templeton: 65%
- Heritage Ranch: 65%
- California Valley: 61%
- Nipomo: 60%
- Oceano: 54%
- San Miguel: 47%
County preparing for 2026 election law change
Cano said new state law requires all vote-by-mail ballots to be processed within 13 days of an election beginning in 2026 — a deadline the county voluntarily met during this election canvass but may be harder to meet with more contests in the 2026 primary and general elections.
To help with that process, Cano said the county is moving to e-pollbooks, which will cut down on the number of provisional ballots the county will have to process since the e-pollbooks can confirm voter eligibility in real-time at the polls instead of after the fact at the office.
“We’re also going to do everything possible to encourage Cal Poly students to register or re-register from their home county well in advance of Election Day,” Cano said in the release.
Regular registration deadline for the June 2026 primary election will be May 18, the release said.
Individuals who turn 18 between Tuesday and June 2 can pre-register to vote, and their registration will automatically activate on their birthday, the release said.
