3 SLO County clerk-recorder candidates face off at forum. See how they compare
As the San Luis Obispo County clerk-recorder race heats up, all three candidates squared off at a forum Tuesday night where the contenders shared their views on everything from the integrity of 2020 election results to voter ID and mail-in ballots.
Dozens of people crowded into the Ludwick Community Center to watch the event hosted by the League of Women Voters of SLO County.
Attendees were able to submit their own questions to candidates Elaina Cano, Gaea Powell and Vanessa Rozo. The forum was also livestreamed and is now posted on the league’s YouTube channel.
During the forum, the candidates discussed how they would act as the top elections official in SLO County, answering questions on voter registration, ballot tabulation, race results and voter privacy.
Here’s where the contenders stand on major election issues:
What experience would candidates bring to the top elections officer role?
The three candidates for clerk-recorder are incumbent Elaina Cano, who’s held the seat since 2021; Gaea Powell, a former Arroyo Grande mayoral candidate who currently faces a trial for eight felony charges of election and voter fraud; and Vanessa Rozo, a local business owner and paralegal from Grover Beach.
Rozo, who’also works as a disaster relief organizer with FEMA and Samaritan’s Purse, said she would rely on her experience handling “very, very intense situations” if she were elected into the office.
She said she’s an extremely detail-oriented, organized person who will bring those traits to the job.
“We can bring this to high level of organization and bring back the integrity as well as the accountability and the transparency of this office,” she said.
As a business consultant for 30 years, Powell said the clerk-recorder role “is the type of work that I’ve done my whole entire life,” going on to add that she’s worked with hundreds of people across a multitude of industries including real estate, film and health care.
“I’m hired to go in and assess the situation, and re-engineer and then implement new systems, and I’m highly successful at that, and I’m very efficient at that,” Powell said.
Cano said she’d bring more than four years of experience to the position since she’s run the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office since the end of 2021. She said the role required a leader who intimately knew the ins-and-outs of the job and the law in order to effectively lead the team.
“There is absolutely no room for error. There is no learning on the job. There is no manual that you get when you come into this office,” she said at the forum. “You have to be ready to uphold the law. You have to be ready to serve the public at the highest level of accountability on day one.”
Where do clerk-recorder contenders stand on 2020 election results?
The candidates were also asked whether they believed the results of the 2020 presidential election were valid.
Cano said she was “100% sure” the results were valid because there are extensive laws that elections offices have to adhere to along with a long chain of checks-and-balances that ensure results are correct.
“The 2020 elections were definitely accurate and fair and honest,” she said.
Rozo said she had not done any research on the 2020 election results but said that she based her information only on facts.
“If the law shows that we are rightfully counting the ballots, and everything is legitimately offered under security when they go in to count the ballots, I believe all things are proven through that type of integrity,” she said. “I’m not sure (of) everybody’s election results and how they played out. There has been a lot of conspiracy. That is not something I have followed and nor is it something that I am passionate about following.”
Powell also said that her beliefs are rooted in facts, but she did not have the facts to prove whether the 2020 election results were legitimate.
“I think the real question is, why does the public have so much question about the legitimacy of our elections?” she asked.
Candidates speak on voter identification requirements
Powell said she’s a strong supporter of requiring people to show ID prior to voting.
She said a new voter ID law — like the SAVE Act — was necessary in order to have legitimate elections, calling it “unbelievable” and “outrageous” that it’s not already a federal requirement to show identification.
“Our Constitution protects us by providing safeguards, and we need to demand from our government that those safeguards are honored. That’s the only way to keep our constitutional republic,” she said. “And if we lose our constitutional republic in this great experiment that is America, we lose everything.”
Cano said she would absolutely abide by a law requiring voter identification. However, she said that she would not take a political stance on the matter since she’s running for a nonpartisan role.
“I am here to be impartial. For some folks, having voter ID is a great tool. For others, they see it as a disenfranchisement,” she said. “So for me to be impartial and nonpolitical, I will stand my ground on that, and if the law says that I have to do that, I will most definitely do that.”
Rozo agreed that she would follow the law whether there was a voter ID requirement or not, though she said a new identification requirement could be useful since she said she doesn’t know her neighbors and barely knows her community.
“I would like to know people who are leaving and coming and going from my community,” she said.
“If they are required to provide the ID, I think that would be a very good opportunity to show that we can identify the person,” Rozo added. “It’s an opinion only because I have my constitutional right to vote as well.”
