Orcutt voters approve annexation 

Voters registered in the Orcutt area outside San Luis Obispo voted themselves into the city, whether they actually live there or not.

On Nov. 15, out of 55 voters registered in the neighborhood, 29 voted in favor of annexation; 18 voted against it.

The vote was controversial; most of the voters only recently registered in the neighborhood, and many of the large landowners actually live somewhere else. California voting regulations are loose enough to allow voters to switch their official domicile between multiple properties.

Anti-annexation forces claim the large landowners switched their official residences to their Orcutt properties, bending the law so they could eventually develop the land.

The vote was triggered by 22 protests to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), filed by residents who don’t want to become part of the city. The protests were enough to force an election for the 55 registered voters who live on 231 acres outside the city limits on the southeast corner of SLO.