Dist. 2 Supervisor candidate, Jim Dantona (left) of Cayucos has taken the lead over his opponent Michael Erin Woody of Morro Bay in the race to replace the retiring Bruce Gibson. Photo by Neil Farrell
Though ballots are still being counted, it appears that the Dist. 2 County Supervisor race will be won by Jim Dantona who overcame an Election Night deficit to overtake Michael Erin Woody as late votes continue to be counted.
As of June 9, the unofficial tally had Dantona ahead with 6,512 total votes, and 53.59 percent of the 13,861 votes counted at that point.
Dist. 2 has 32,361 registered voters so at 24,862 the turnout is listed as just 42.83%.
Woody had a slim, early lead of over 200 votes when the County Election Office released the first unofficial results on June 4, two days after the June 2 Primary Election.
If Dantona’s lead holds and his vote total stays above 50%, he would win the seat held by Bruce Gibson for nearly two decades and avoid a runoff in November.
Once again mail-in balloting made up the majority of votes cast, with 13,262 compared to 599 cast at polling places.
Of note, there were 1,515 “undervotes” (ballots that didn’t cast a vote in this race), and eight overvotes (ballots with more than one candidate marked).
In the Dist. 4 race, Incumbent Jimmy Paulding had 54.61% of the votes (15,170) to 45.39% for challenger Adam Verdin (6,638).
Dist. 4’s turnout so far is less than Dist. 2, as 15,170 votes had been counted out of 39,137 registered voters, or 38.76%.
In this race there were 545 undervotes and just two overvotes.
And mail-in ballots dominated the totals with 14,516 mailed in versus 654 cast in person at the polls.
In the other contested County Office incumbent Clerk-Recorder, Elaina Cano appears to be running away with her race securing 38,414 (64.78%), with challengers Vanessa Rozo (15,199, 25.63%) and Gaea Powell (5,687, 9.59%).
In the other race of local interest, Los Osos voters approved Measure B-26, a property tax increase to fund the purchase of the Sunnyside School site for future use for the town.
“Yes” votes totaled 2,260 (52.76%) to 2,032 “No” votes (47.24%).
The total shows the wisdom of the measure’s supporters in holding a petition drive to have the Community Services District place it on the ballot.
As a citizen’s initiative, B-26 needed only a simple majority to be approved, instead of the two-thirds needed when a governmental agency seeks a tax hike for a specific purpose.
Had the CSD asked for the measure, these totals would have been the agony of defeat.
B-26 establishes a parcel tax of $185 a year per parcel attached to property tax bills and lasting at that rate for 15 years. This amount is to pay for buying the old school from the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.
After the initial 15 years, it would drop down to $100 a year, adjusted annually for inflation, to pay for the upkeep of the property.
The CSD would take possession of the land and be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep, as well as acting as landlord for any organizations that lease space in the old school’s buildings.
B-26 raises over $1.11 million a year the first 15 years and then $602,200 annually after that. Only voters can end the assessments in the future through another initiative.
The new law also has a provision that revenue and expenditures be public information and an oversight board be established to watchdog the money.
Also on the ballot were several uncontested races. The Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector-Public Administrator’s race had incumbent Jim Hamilton getting all of the 46,020 votes cast countywide.
Long time County Assessor Tom Bordonaro also ran unopposed and got all 50,558 votes cast in that race.
In the County Superintendent of Schools race, Joe Koski was also unopposed in the bid to replace the retiring Jim Brescia. Koski got all 43,021 votes.
Incumbent Dist. 30 Assemblywoman Dawn Addis of Morro Bay got the majority of votes in SLO County, securing 29,456 (48.75%). Her district also includes significant parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.
Addis also leads in those counties with 20,112 votes out of Monterey County and another 15,843 votes out of Santa Cruz County, giving her over 65,400 total votes out of the three counties in her district.
In the Dist. 24 Congressional race, incumbent Salud Carbajal led the vote getters in SLO County with 23,378 (54.59%) and in second place is Bob Smith with 16,451 (38.41%). If Carbajal had similar totals in the other counties he represents (Santa Barbara and part of Ventura) he would avoid a run-off with over 50% of the votes.
Also of note, in the Governor’s race, Republican Steve Hilton got the most votes with 19,844 and Xavier Becerra second with 16,796 in an over-crowded field of office seekers. Hilton campaigned several times in SLO County including once in Morro Bay where in an online campaign video he criticized Gov. Gavin Newsome’s push for an offshore, floating wind energy project that is opposed by a majority of local residents as well.
Billionaire Tom Steyer was third with 14,429 and Riverside County Sheriff, Chad Blanco was fourth with 9,090 SLO County votes. Hilton and Blanco were the top two Republicans in the field of 61 candidates. There were a total of nine admitted Republicans in the race. Candidates that listed “No Party Preference” or NPP numbered 23.
It appears that Hilton and Bacerra will have a runoff in November in the bid to replace the termed-out Gov. Newsom.
Final election results are expected to be announced and certified by the Board of Supervisors sometime before the end of June.
