Early tallies of San Luis Obispo County’s votes put Grover Beach candidates Kassi Dee, Jules Tuggle, and Shilo Terek in the lead for the mayor’s seat and City Council positions, respectively.
As of Nov. 4, the SLO County Elections Office had counted 2,620 ballots so far. Grover Beach has a little more than 8,000 registered voters.
Incumbent Dee, Grover Beach’s youngest mayor, won almost 54 percent of those early vote counts. She held an election night party at her shop, Nan’s Books and Crystals.
“It was just absolutely lovely to be surrounded by so many amazing human beings and our families and friends,” Dee said. “I’m so grateful.”
Her opponent, Planning Commissioner David Swift, raked in 46 percent, separated by roughly 200 votes as of Nov. 4.
Credit: PHOTO BY PIETER SAAYMAN
“A 200-[vote] spread at first count isn’t surprising,” Swift told New Times. “I think the one that does surprise me is how overwhelming the support has been for F-26 and A-26, which strangely enough, doesn’t map to the mayor and council races.”
Swift is referring to the two controversial Grover Beach citizen initiatives.
Measure F-26, which aims to limit building heights in the beach town, is poised to pass with 66 percent of affirmative votes in the preliminary count. However, the state could intervene if F-26 passes.
Earlier this year, a letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) warned the city that the successful measure could be voided and leave Grover Beach in violation of state law.
“I fully expect, if F-26 passes, that it will get challenged by the HCD to the Attorney General’s Office, and they will probably void it,” Swift said. “The question back to the council and the [Planning] Commission is what do we do with the overwhelming public support for it?”
Dee told New Times she’d prioritize working on water supply and resiliency, the Housing Element, and improving facilities and residential streets if she retains her seat. If Swift manages to close the gap between them, he said the future of F-26 is one of his top three priorities. He also wants to address water security and the funding shortfall for streets.
Measure A-26, the push to make the city clerk an elected office rather than an appointed position, secured nearly 61 percent of “yes” votes counted as of Nov. 4.
“It is the fourth Grover Beach grassroots citizen ballot measure since 2024 and all have been resoundingly approved by Grover Beach voters,” A-26 proponent Debbie Peterson said. “The people of Grover Beach have sent an undeniable message and remit to the City Council about their wishes for their community, similar to that sent across the nation.”
F-26 supporter Kelvin Coveduck echoed that voters “made it clear” they want to preserve ocean and dune views.
“Perhaps the next City Council will be proactive and designate specific roads as ‘scenic’ and modify the Local Coastal Plan, thus preventing tall buildings from blocking views from roadways,” he said.
Credit: PHOTO BY PIETER SAAYMAN
Coveduck is running for the 1st District City Council seat. With 291 votes in the initial count, he trailed behind Terek who had 355 votes.
Incumbent 2nd District Councilmember Tuggle also secured an early lead with 377 votes over opponent Allen Thompson, who received 259 votes as of Nov. 4.
SLO County’s voter turnout in the midterm election could surpass participation in the 2022 midterm.
According to data from the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, election workers already counted more than 110,000 ballots before Nov. 3.
In contrast, the office counted a little more than 120,000 ballots in November 2022’s election.
SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano told New Times that the legal deadline for completing counting of all eligible ballots is Nov. 16. Her office expected to post the more updates by the end of Nov. 5.
“The two-card ballot means twice the processing and counting activity,” Cano said. “While we had more total ballot cards counted going into Election Day than for other recent elections, we have thousands more ballots that passed signature verification and were moved to counting before yesterday but have yet to be run through the tabulators. In the next few days, those will be added to the unofficial results.” ∆
This article appears in Nov 5-12, 2026.
