Presidential election is certified in San Luis Obispo County
–The Official Canvass for the Presidential General Election has been completed and the election was certified by County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong on Nov. 25. The official canvass procedures include counting all vote-by-mail and provisional ballots turned in at the polls, balancing the number of voters who signed the voter service center rosters to the number of ballots cast, and completing a 1-percent manual tally to ensure the voting machines counted correctly.
“The 2020 Presidential General Election is one for the ages,” said County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong, “With unprecedented circumstances due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, all voters in California were sent vote by mail ballots and fundamental changes were made to precinct operations to maintain a safe voting environment across the state. Many other counties throughout the state suffered devastating wildfires and public safety power shutdowns. With much political unrest throughout the nation, this election was among the most divisive and the most closely watched in the modern election era. Yet counties, large and small, performed admirably despite the challenges they faced. I give all the credit to my staff members, fellow county departments for their assistance, consultants, and numerous election workers for making this election exceedingly successful.”
A record-breaking number of registered voters at 184,050, along with an unprecedented number of ballots cast at 162,615, the most ever in San Luis Obispo, the county shattered its all-time turnout percentage at 88.35-percent, breaking the previous record of 83.14% set in 2008.
Currently, this puts San Luis Obispo among the top 5 counties with the highest voting percentage. San Luis Obispo landed in the top 12 counties during the 2012 & 2016 presidential elections.
“I believe the additional efforts made to voter outreach and education helped move the needle on voter turnout,” said Gong.
Significantly shifted was the number of voters voting by mail compared to those voting in person: 152,741 voted by mail (93.93-percent of voters), the highest number of VBM ballots ever cast in any election, while 9,874 voted in person (6.07-percent of voters). The final official results are posted at www.slovote.com. The final precinct by precinct results will be posted to this website in the coming days.
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