If you thought you finally knew the results of the SLO County's 2nd District supervisor race, think again! I mean, it's going to be Bruce—and actually the recently certified election results do show Bruce beating Bruce by 13 votes, so it's definitely a Bruce!
However, one Bruce wants a recount. And it's the losing Bruce. No surprises there.
Candidate Bruce Jones—who should have easily won the recently gerrymandered 2nd District by hundreds of votes, according to voter registration data—didn't sail to the Republican-imagined victory like they thought he would. Maybe it was the Republican Party of SLO County's manic Trumpian/Tea Party push over the last half-decade. Maybe it was the tact to rely on conservatives' irrational fear that socialism and tax-hungry politicians are taking over the county. Maybe it was the constant refrain of irate and convoluted voter fraud allegations. Or maybe it was simply that their candidate sucked.
Either way, here we are. Incumbent 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson beat the odds by 13 votes. See, your vote absolutely counts. Or at least 13 of your votes count.
And, as predicted by folks who pay attention to SLO County politics, a recount was requested on behalf of Mr. Jones. It's such a tight race, a recount request was inevitable.
But this recount request was filed by the now infamous local election denier Darcia "Monopoly Money Counts as Real Money" Stebbens, who wields her analogies like square pegs meant for round holes. It demands access to things that are inaccessible—things like names, signatures, and addresses. You know, privacy-type things.
Stebbens is on her second recount request, because the first one went so well. Remember that? It was only in June. Not a single vote in the contest between then 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton and challenger Jimmy Paulding changed. The SLO County Clerk-Recorder's Office did its job well, accurately, and above board!
Compton is out. Paulding is in.
Back slaps all around, right?
Not if you're Stebbens. She continued to attend Board of Supervisors meetings, railing about computers, loose ballots (they'll let anyone fill them out, amirite?), and monopoly money for three minutes at a time. The vote count is accurate, she said, but that doesn't mean something else didn't go awry.
And that's what they're looking for.
"We're being asked time and time again to trust the machines," Stebbens said during Fraud Hour (aka, public comment) at the Dec. 13 board meeting. "I happen to have faith and trust in the human brain to be able to look at a ballot and know what that vote is for."
It's funny, then, that the "rumors" floating around about what went wrong in the 2nd District race have everything to do with humans and nothing to do with machines. Erik Gorham, de facto Jones spokesperson (Jones refused to comment on the recount. Who does that? It's your race, buddy. Own it.), told Hometown Radio host Dave Congalton (who for some reason likes to entertain these allegations as if they have merit) that they could "find" 20 votes to beat Gibson because voters were supposedly misled by poorly trained poll-workers about what to do with their vote-by-mail ballots at the polls.
Stebbens recount request demands information about poll worker trainings, their names, addresses, etc. Creepy!
So it's the machines, right? No wait, it's also humans? And it's ballots? So, trust nobody and nothing?
If the 13 votes swung the other way, would Stebbens have filed a recount request on behalf of Gibson? Would sitting elected official 5th District Debbie "My Election Was Fair But I Have Questions About Yours" Arnold have voted against declaring the election results again?
I doubt it. This is about partisanship, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with the truth. And it certainly has nothing to do with ensuring democracy works as it should. It has to do with ensuring conservatives stay in power. Nothing more, nothing less.
Allegations of voter fraud are the ultimate form of denial. That denial of reality and some twisted belief that reality can be twisted to meet your fantasy of what should be leads people to do outrageous things—Jan. 6, 2021, is a great example.
During a difficult interview with a coffee shop owner that really hadn't gotten to the hard stuff yet, the owner ripped a page of notes out of a New Times' reporter's notebook, demanding that the paper not write anything negative about their business. Later that day, they apologized.
However, that sort of behavior—driven by denial and the belief that we can create our own reality—is unacceptable. Acting like something didn't happen or that New Times or The Tribune (pick the media outlet of your choice) made up the reality you're living in doesn't change reality. A physical, forceful action doesn't erase the years and months that led up to that moment. Taking your frustration out on reporters, journalists, and media organizations that are just doing their job will not amend a thing.
Rallying supporters around conspiracy theories, talking points that manipulate facts, accusations without merit, yelling into the social media bubble, anger that manifests into verbal and physical outbursts against people who don't see the world as we do, secluding ourselves from "the other." None of it makes your world or mine any better. In fact, it makes it worse. Δ
The Shredder is appalled. Send ointment to shredder@newtimesslo.com.