Clerk-Recorder discusses voter guide and ballot errors 

The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder's Office is scrambling to correct multiple errors found on thousands of local voter guides and ballots for the Nov. 8 election.

Two South County election candidates—Kevin Kreowski for Pismo Beach City Council and Ashley Smeester for Lucia Mar Unified School District Area No. 3—had their candidate statements omitted from voter guides, while another Pismo candidate's statement was printed twice.

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• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• WHOOPSIE As locals start to vote by mail in the Nov. 8 election, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder's Office is scrambling to address three errors found in some residents' voter guides and ballots.

And on the ballot, Measure C-22 in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District contained a small but consequential typographical error: the $349 million bond measure read that it would assess a property tax of 4.9 percent per $100 in assessed value, instead of the correct phrasing of 4.9 cents per $100 in assessed value.

SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano told New Times that the misprints in the voter guide can be traced back to the county's contracted printer, Toppan Merrill, while the error on the ballot was likely an oversight within the Clerk-Recorder's Office.

"We do not take this lightly," Cano said. "We are all feeling incredibly responsible. It's a terrible feeling."

In the days since the error was announced on Oct. 12, Cano said her office and the printer have worked "around the clock" to send out corrected voter guides to the affected Pismo Beach and Lucia Mar district residents. It also refunded Kreowski's and Smeester's candidate statement fees.

"They [the printer] fixed their error very quickly, and we're trying as hard as we can to do the same thing to get these out," Cano said.

Cano's office is also sending out "corrective action mailers" to residents in the San Luis Coastal school district informing them about the ballot mistake and the correct language of the measure.

The election mistakes drew broad disappointment and anger from candidates and residents.

In an Oct. 13 Facebook post, Lucia Mar candidate Smeester called the omission of her candidate statement "a huge hit" to her campaign and Cano's response "lacking."

"Super disappointed the county clerk didn't immediately notify me that they did not include my name AT ALL in the voter guide," Smeester wrote. "I do care and I do have a statement; contrary to what a mistake like this suggests."

Pismo Beach City Council candidate Stacy Inman, whose candidate statement was printed twice, called the reprint "a terrible error which I had no control over" in an Oct. 14 Facebook post.

"SLO County Elections is going to rectify this by sending out new voter guide pamphlets with the correct information—which includes each candidate's statement—as soon as possible," Inman said.

Several residents shared feelings of disgust at the SLO County Board of Supervisors' Oct. 18 meeting. Resident Cindy Muir accused Cano of "gross negligence and incompetency."

"There's no way there's not going to be a redo of this election," Muir said. "The extra costs and lawsuits will cost everyone."

For her part, Cano expressed remorse and said she's "not naïve" to the potential ramifications of the misprints.

"I know very well this could be challenged in court," Cano said.

Cano said her office is taking all the steps it can to send out accurate information ahead of the Nov. 8 election. She urged San Luis Coastal district residents to reference their voter guide on Measure C-22, which is accurate, before casting a vote.

Looking ahead, Cano said she will be implementing more safeguards to protect against ballot errors and misprints.

She said the county has used the same printing company for years without issue, but noted that elections are becoming increasingly complex with more by-district elections spawning dozens of different ballot types throughout the county.

"More contests means more proofing," Cano said. "Now that we know there's a possibility of something going wrong in production, we'll work with our print vendor to make sure that prior to printing and assembling all the information, we want to take one last look at it."

Cano added that her office has been heavily taxed in the period between the June primary and November general election, largely due to the requested hand recount of the 4th District supervisor contest between Jimmy Paulding and Lynn Compton.

"We haven't stopped working on weekends," Cano said. "We're six days a week at minimum, 10 hours a day, to make up for those five weeks lost. It's significant. We're doing the best we can and pushing through."