Lynn Compton lost by 639 votes. Forcing a recount is a malicious attack on election integrity

It’s time for a reality check: Recounts rarely change the outcome of an election, and when they do, the margin between the candidates is generally less than a half-percent.

Yet a Paso Robles voter is willing to finance a hand count of all 20,899 ballots in the District 4 Board of Supervisors race won by Jimmy Paulding, who wound up with a 3% lead over Lynn Compton.

Paulding won by 639 votes, denying Compton a third term and threatening to give liberals majority control of the Board of Supervisors.

This demand for a recount appears to be a deliberate attempt to impugn the integrity of our county Elections Office and to cast doubt on the outcome of free and fair elections.

Yes, requesting a recount is perfectly legal, but under the circumstances it amounts to more harassment of local election officials who are being second-guessed at every turn.

Forcing a recount is even more ridiculous when you compare the recent results to the 2018 election, when Compton beat Paulding by a mere 60 votes.

In that instance, you didn’t see Paulding or any of his supporters asking for a recount.

In fact, recounts are rarely requested in San Luis Obispo County.

In 2020, a group supporting a tax measure to raise funds for Oceano fire services asked for a recount after the vote fell short by just 11 votes. The recount added just one vote to the “yes” column.

In 2014, only two votes separated the winner from the loser in the race for Pismo Beach mayor. The vote was unchanged following a hand count of the ballots.

In a display of collegiality, the ultimate winner in that race — Shelly Higginbotham — contributed $495 to a GoFundMe account that raised the $3,000 it cost to hand count the ballots.

Paulding is confident that the Elections Office did its job correctly the first time.

“Therefore this recount is an unnecessary and upsetting waste of county resources, but they are acting within their rights to request one,” he wrote in a statement.

At least taxpayers won’t be out any money; the person who requested the recount, Darcia Stebbens of Paso Robles, will be required to pay, though she’ll receive a refund if the outcome is reversed.

Still, it’s a waste of county staff time and it diverts attention away from other duties, such as preparing for the upcoming November election.

It’s also part of a bigger campaign by conservatives to sow distrust with allegations of rigged voting machines, missing ballots and improper procedures by election officials.

In Nevada County, for example, a recount was requested in the race for county clerk-recorder, even though the first-place finisher won by a 68% landslide.

The man who requested the recount, conservative radio host Randy Economy, told the Los Angeles Times that “something doesn’t smell right” about the race.

He called off the recount after the LA Times published a story about it — to the disgust of election officials who had done considerable work and spent approximately $10,000 preparing for the hand count.

The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office did not provide an estimate of the cost of the recount.

The Nevada County recount would have cost around $82,000 and required 38 days of counting, but there were 38,000 ballots cast in that race, compared to nearly 21,000 in the SLO County District 4 race.

Still, it’s bound to be an expensive endeavor.

And ironically, the investment will almost certainly keep Paulding in first place, while vindicating the County Clerk-Recorders Office — and hopefully discouraging future efforts to undermine the integrity of local elections.