SLO County ballot guide omitted 2 candidate statements. ‘This could cost me an election’
Ballots were sent out to San Luis Obispo County voters last week ahead of the November general election — but they were missing two candidate statements and had incorrect language for one of the ballot measures.
County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said the candidate statements for Kevin Kreowski, running for Pismo Beach City Council, and Ashley Smeester, running for Area 2 of Lucia Mar Unified School District Board of Trustees, were accidentally left out of the guide sent out with ballots earlier in the week. Pismo Beach candidate Stacy Inman’s statement was also printed twice in the booklet.
According to Cano, Kreowski and Smeester’s statements were left out “due to a printing error after the pages were already proofed and approved.”
“The error occurred when the pages were being assembled into the booklet, which caused one statement to be printed twice, while omitting the other,” Cano said.
Kreowski told The Tribune he was notified of the error on Thursday and was disheartened by the news and what it meant for his campaign.
“We’re at the 11th hour,” he said. “(I was) a little taken aback. I was hoping because when we get to this point ... you’ve worked very hard. And at the end here, you’re just trying to kick back a little bit — and then, bam, you get hit with this. It’s like, are you kidding me?”
Kreowski said he was at first told that the Elections Office would send out a letter with a printout of his statement to voters next week, but that plan changed to sending out an entirely new ballot guide.
He said he is worried that will be too little, too late, and that voters would ignore the new guide thinking it was just a duplicate.
“In the end, do I want to make that big deal about it?” he said. “Do I think there’s some conspiracy or anything like that? No — but do I think that things need to be tighter in that office? ... Yes, I do. Because right now, I’m sure (Cano) understands that this could cost me an election, bottom line. And that’s not right. It’s really not right.”
School bond measure language wrong in ballot guide
Cano also confirmed there was a “typographical error” on the actual ballot for San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s Measure C-22 that incorrectly indicated how much property owners would be charged if the proposed tax measure were improved.
The ballot said the measure would levy an estimated “4.9% per $100 of assessed value” when it should have said “4.9 cents per $100 of assessed value.” The text in the ballot guide was correct, however, according to the Elections Office.
Measure C-22 is a $349 million bond measure aimed at renovating and improving 15 aging school campuses in the San Luis Coastal school district.
“We are disappointed in this error, but we believe there is a remedy so voters can approve this school improvement measure without delay,” Measure C-22 co-chair Gregory Gillett said in a news release Friday. “In the meantime, we ask voters in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District to vote ‘yes’ on Measure C-22. It’s an investment in our students’ success and safety.”
In a statement Gillett said the district submitted the correct ballot language, and the typo “happened somewhere in the clerk-recorder’s process of printing the ballots.”
“It’s important that voters know this is a typo, that they understand the benefits of Measure C-22, which deserves a ’yes’ vote because it will benefit not only students, but our entire community,” Gillett said in the release.
Passing the measure would help the district make improvements on its schools — many of which were built more than half a century ago, co-chair Jay Beck said in the news release.
“Good schools are a driver of a community’s overall economic and social vitality. Good schools help businesses attract and retain good employees,” Beck said in the release. “Good schools improve property values. Most important of all, our children and teachers need to be in optimal learning environments instead of outdated classrooms that are either sweltering or freezing.”
‘We deeply regret that this happened,’ Elections Office says of errors
Cano said the Elections Office is sending out re-printed ballot guides to all voters beginning early this week to address the missing candidate statements. Voters in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District should also expect a “Corrective Action Mailer” this week to address the ballot language issue for Measure C-22.
Corrected versions of the ballot guide are also available online at the county’s website at https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/Clerk-Recorder/Forms-Documents/Elections-and-Voting/Current-Elections/2022-11-08-Gubernatorial-General/Voter-Information-Guides.aspx. The corrected voter guides are for Ballot Types 36, 40, 41, 52, 64 and 65.
Smeester and Kreowski have also been refunded the costs of having their statements printed, according to a county news release.
“We deeply regret that this has happened,” the release said. The county “will continue to carefully verify and proof all further Voter Information Guides and its contents. Voters are strongly encouraged to refer to the county Elections website listed above or wait for the mailing before casting their vote.”
Here are the statements for Smeester and Kreowski, as well as the correct Measure C-22 ballot language in full:
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 9:21 AM.
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