SLO County Elections Office to Resume Counting Ballots Thursday
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) - On the day after Election Day, the San Luis Obispo County Elections Center was buzzing with activity all day long.
However, work that was taking place in the newly refurbished facility located inside the Katcho Achadjian Government Center in downtown San Luis Obispo did not include counting of ballots.
"No counting today," said Erin Clausen, San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Public Information Specialist. "What we're doing today, among other things, is reconciling the counts from the polls against the ballots issued, all of that sort of balancing work that we do to make sure that everything is accounted for, and all the voters who voted at the polls are credited appropriately."
With a handful of elections still to be decided, including a pair of tightly contested supervisor races, the San Luis Obispo County Elections Office will resume counting ballots on Thursday.
"We have about, I would say 20,000 or so ready to be counted tomorrow," said Clausen. "There will be a big influx of results added to those (already posted) and then we'll continue to process mail ballots that come in and we will update results each time we count."
The San Luis Obispo County Elections office will post updated election results by 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, 2026.
In addition to the 20,000 ballots that are queued and ready to be tabulated, Clausen added there are thousands more still to arrive.
"We got about another 20,000 vote by mail ballots dropped off at the polls, so those are what are going through scanning and processing now to get those ready to be counted," said Clausen. "That's about 40,000ish right now that are outstanding, and then the mail will continue to come in over this week, so we don't really have an idea until those come in exactly how many of those they'll be."
The break in ballot counting on Wednesday comes as both San Luis Obispo County supervisor races are still to be decided.
In District Two, which represents the North Coast and parts of San Luis Obispo, Michael Erin Woody (3,333 votes/51.87%) was leading Jim Dantona (3,093 votes/48.13%) by just 240 votes.
The two candidates are looking to fill the seat that has been occupied since 2007 by Bruce Gibson, who decided to not seek reelection.
The District 4 seat that represents much of South San Luis Obispo County is also up for grabs between incumbent Jimmy Paulding and challenger Adam Verdin.
Paulding, who is currently serving as the Board Chair, is seeking a second term, while Verdin, a local businessman, pilot and community volunteer, is running for office for the first time ever.
Paulding is holding a slightly larger lead than Woody in the District 2 race, with a 386 vote advantage as of the last update, which was posted by the Elections Office at 12:52 a.m. early Wednesday morning.
Paulding currently has votes 4,408 votes (52.28%), while Verdin has 4,022 votes (47.70%).
"I'm happy to be in the lead right now," Paulding said late Wednesday morning. "I'm absolutely optimistic that I will be able to keep that lead, and that margin and it will grow, ultimately I'll be able to continue to serve District 4."
Verdin is well within striking distance to make up ground and rally back in the election.
He said Wednesday morning that he remains hopeful he can still win the race and earn the seat to represent the district.
"I think the name of the game right now is being patient," said Verdin. "Right now, we need to have patience for the process and understand that it's going to be or likely to be a very close race."
San Luis Obispo County has a recent history of close supervisor races.
In 2018, Paulding narrowly lost a tight race to Lynn Compton for the District 4 seat, falling short by just 60 votes.
Four years later in District 2, Gibson was reelected in a nailbiter beating Bruce Jones by a mere 13 votes.
"It's sort of what we anticipated," said Verdin. "We're cautiously optimistic for a favorable conclusion. We're now monitoring the results and we're monitoring the process."
Like Verdin, Paulding stressed the need for patience and to be let the election staff work until a final outcome is determined.
"Part of the democratic process is letting our Clerk-Recorder's office go through their very deliberate and structured process to count all of those ballots and votes and we'll just wait for them to go through that," said Paulding. "We'll see where this ends up, but absolutely could be a very close race."
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