San Luis Obispo County's June 7 Primary Election numbers were updated one last time on July 7, 2022, at 9:57 a.m.
“I will be signing the certification of the election results, gathering all of the required documentation that needs to accompany that certification and sending it up to the Secretary of State’s Office,” said SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.
This comes after weeks of carefully reviewing the ballots.
“We have been working around the clock counting the remainder of all of the vote-by-mail ballots, all of the provisional ballots, waiting for all of the cure letters to come in for those voters that needed to update their signature that didn’t match their vote-by-mail envelope,” Cano explained.
Voter turnout was initially a concern. Just four days before the June 7 Primary Election, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office had only received about 34,000 ballots, just 18% of the total number of registered voters.
“We did have a little bit higher than a 48% turnout and in comparison to the state, which is overall a 30% turnout, 32% turnout, we came in at 12th highest,” Cano added.
Some races were closer than others. Jimmy Paulding won the District 4 Supervisor election with 51.5% of the votes, beating incumbent District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton by 639 votes.
“It’s been a journey going all the way back to 2018 when I previously ran for this office,” Paulding said. “What I learned on the campaign trail was that the top issues that matter to people in District 4 and South County are primarily water. They want to make sure we have a reliable source of water for the future in light of our continued drought. They want to make sure we are tackling homelessness.”
KSBY News reached out to Compton via email, phone and social media but did not hear back from her by the time this story was published.
Another race garnering attention is for District 2 Supervisor, which is moving on to the November Midterm Election. Incumbent District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson received 47% of the vote while Dr. Bruce Jones got nearly 19%.
“The three conservative candidates together got 52.5% roughly. I think going into the election, I can expect most conservatives that voted for one of those candidates will vote for me,” said Dr. Jones. “I think I actually have a better feeling for what matters to people.”
“The results are within the range I expected,” Gibson said in a statement. “While it would’ve been nice to win outright in June, our campaign is already geared up and excited to campaign to November... There’s a lot at stake for SLO County and we’re seeing a strong surge of support county-wide. We’re looking forward to success in the general election."
There is one last step to call this primary election.
“On July 19th, I will be bringing before the board the certification of the election and at that time, they will be able to declare the results,” Cano said.
If there is a recount request, it would have to come in the next five days. If that does not happen, then these results are final and will be declared by the SLO County Board of Supervisors.
Here are the results for the other contested San Luis Obispo County races:
- In the District 3 Supervisor race, Dawn Ortiz-Legg will keep her seat on the board. She received 63% of the vote to Stacy Korsgaden's 34%. Arnold Ruiz received 3% of the vote.
- In the race for Superior Court Judge #12, Mike Frye defeated Paul M. Phillips 67% to 33%.
- Elania Cano will retain her seat as Clerk-Recorder. She received 62% of the vote. Challengers James Arthur Baugh and Stew Jenkins received 22% and 16% respectively.
- In the Morro Bay City Council race, Jen Ford will keep her seat on the council. She received 57% of the vote to James Costanzo's 43%.
- Oceano's Measure A, which would have increased property taxes to pay for emergency services, failed. It required a two-thirds majority vote in order to pass but only received 58%.
The following SLO County races were uncontested:
- Superior Court Judge Office #10 - Erin Childs
- Superintendent of Schools - James Brescia
- Assessor - Tom J. Bordonaro Jr.
- Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector/Public Administrator (ACTTCPA) - James W. Hamilton
- District Attorney - Dan Dow
- Sheriff-Coroner - Ian S. Parkinson
In Santa Barbara County, there were only three local races with more than one candidate. Here are the winners:
- In the race for Superintendent of Schools, current superintendent Susan C. Salcido will retain her seat. She received 62% of the vote to Christy Lozano's 38%.
- Joseph E. Holland will also keep his seat as Clerk-Recorder-Assessor. He received 79% of the vote to Elrawd Maclearn's 21%.
- Bill Brown will serve another term as Sheriff-Coroner. He received 53% of the vote to Juan Camarena's 46%.
The following Santa Barbara County races were uncontested:
- Superior Court Judge Office #1 - Stephen P. Foley
- District 2 Supervisor - Laura Capps
- District 5 Supervisor - Steve Lavagnino
- Auditor-Controller - Betsy Schaffer
- District Attorney - John Savrnoch
- Treasurer-Tax Collector-Public Administrator - Harry E. Hagen
In all of the other races on the June 7 ballot, the top two candidates will face each other in the November General Election. Here are the current leaders in those races. (These results are not final. The state has until July 15 to certify the election.):
- Governor - Gavin Newsom, Brian Dahle
- Lieutenant Governor - Eleni Kounalakis, Angela E. Underwood Jacobs
- Secretary of State - Shirley N. Weber, Rob Bernosky
- Controller - Lanhee Chen, Malia M. Cohen
- Treasurer - Fiona Ma, Jack M. Guerrero
- Attorney General - Rob Bonta, Nathan Hochman
- Insurance Commissioner - Ricardo Lara, Robert Howell
- Superintendent of Public Instruction - Tony K. Thurmond, Lance Ray Christensen
- U.S. Senate (full term) - Alex Padilla, Mark P. Meuser
- U.S. Senate (partial term) - Alex Padilla, Mark P. Meuser
- Board of Equalization District 2 - Sally J. Lieber, Peter Coe Verbica
- U.S. Representative District 19 - Jimmy Panetta, Jeff Gorman
- U.S. Representative District 24 - Salud Carbajal, Brad Allen
- State Assemby District 30 - Dawn Addis, Vicki Nohrden
- State Assembly District 37 - Gregg Hart, Mike Stoker
