San Luis Obispo County is ditching the election model it used for last November’s presidential election amid COVID-19 and reverting to its old model going forward, following a contentious, late-hour 3-2 vote by the Board of Supervisors on May 4.
The decision—which came at 11:30 p.m. after nearly four hours of public comment—means that polling places for future SLO County elections will be open only on Election Day, and mail-in ballots will be delivered only to those who request them, unless state law requires otherwise.
Critics blasted the decision as being akin to restricting ballot box access, after last November’s election drew record turnout under a model that required polling places to open four days before Election Day and counties to send mail-in ballots to every registered voter.
“I will not be going backwards into the future,” 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said, before dissenting in the vote.
The supervisors voted along partisan lines—with conservative Supervisors John Peschong (1st District), Lynn Compton (4th District) and Debbie Arnold (5th District) leading the majority.
The discussion came on the heels of a SLO County Republican Party campaign to dispute the November 2020 election, based on unsubstantiated concerns of fraud and ballot errors, and demand changes.
“There clearly is concern out there,” Arnold said after public comment.
Ahead of the meeting, dozens of copies of a pre-drafted Republican Party email went to the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. The emails demanded that Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong launch a forensic audit of the election because the county used the Dominion Voting Systems technology, a target of former President Donald Trump’s false allegations about 2020 election fraud.
They also called for mandatory voter ID laws and “no more 100 percent vote by mail.”
“I am sure during this last election, with mail-in ballots, there was fraud,” Martin Scott wrote in an email to Gong. “I don’t trust Dominion Voting Systems at all.”
Gong wrote in response letters, and told New Times on May 5, that the county cannot legally audit the 2020 election at this time, since all ballots must remain unopened and unaltered for 22 months following an election per state law. No recounts were requested for the election, either, he said.
Gong added that his office has not received any substantiated complaints, concerns, or evidence of irregularities or fraud in the 2020 election. He called the election “a great success despite the COVID-19 pandemic” and said the conspiracy theories about the Dominion system, used by 40 counties in California, were “all unfounded.”
“It’s a good system. We selected it in 2018,” Gong said.
Complaints and allegations about the 2020 election escalated to a point where one speaker on May 4 accused Gong of belonging to the Chinese Communist Party. One email—part of the string of Republican Party-drafted letters—also told Gong in a personalized note: “We The People are coming for your corrupt head.”
Gong, who’s the first Asian American to ever be elected to office in SLO County, called the racist comment and threat “quite disturbing.”
“It’s truly unfortunate,” he said. “I wanted to think the community looked beyond the color of one’s skin, … but remarks like that put that thought in question, about what is the underlying current.”
In the supervisors’ discussion about election models, Peschong, Compton, and Arnold noted that SLO County does not have the power to require voter ID at the ballot box or to further restrict mail-in voting, since those are state laws. In a separate vote, they directed county staff to potentially include those issues as part of the county’s state legislative platform.
Peschong said that he didn’t believe election fraud occurred in SLO County, adding that county clerks across the state universally endorse the Dominion Voting System.
“Every single county clerk is saying they work very, very well and they’re not concerned about it,” Peschong said.
But Peschong did take issue with the November 2020 election model, saying he preferred “the traditional model” of more polling places open on Election Day, versus fewer vote centers open for four days. He said he felt the vote center model disenfranchised senior citizens who grew accustomed to the old way.
Peschong also disputed arguments that the 2020 model contributed to the record turnout, attributing it instead to that election being the “most controversial in my lifetime.”
Yet, scores of local residents wanted the county to continue with the model adopted in 2020. In a recent voter survey conducted by the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, 57 percent of respondents said they preferred a multi-day vote service center to an Election Day-only polling place.
“Our voting system is working well,” Thomas Nickelson wrote in a public comment letter. “Our elections are safe and fair. Don’t buy the Trump lie.” Δ
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2021.
I applaud the actions of the Board. Election Day is Election Day. Mail in balloting is available by request and for those in outlying areas of the county. This is all that is needed. The talk of disenfranchisement is LUDICROUS. An ID should be shown and verified. To say that anyone is incapable of following the current voting protocol is RACIST and denigrating. Those who cheated in the last election and seek to do so in future elections will cry foul when common sense decisions like this Board’s decision here are made because they think “WE” the people do not see through the BS that they purvey with cover provided by the media (see CNN technical director comments). You can LIE loud and frequently but WE see the truth. Quote corrupt sources, intimidated jurists and paid for pseudo science experts until the cows come home, (or until every vote is counted…right?) but the American PEOPLE are conservative and believe and follow the rule of law. WE will not stand by and see our democracy corrupted with election fraud. THANK GOD our Board of Supervisors has a backbone to stand up for WE THE PEOPLE. The pendulum is swinging away from the conspirers of fraud and disinformation and toward truth and justice.
The board should be trying to expand democracy rather than limit it. It appears obvious that the board majority does not want to honor the will of the majority of eligible voters in our county. This is a straight on attack on democracy and an attempt by the board majority to shift toward an authoritarian style of governing on the central coast. The board majority, Compton, Arnold and Peschong, is now a clear threat to democracy in our county. All those who do not want to see Vladimir Putin style authoritarianism in America should soundly reject Compton, Arnold and Peschong when it comes time to vote. We saw what Trumpism did to America. Please do not let such things happen on our beloved central coast. Let all of our eligible citizens vote in as simple, secure and efficient manner possible! Thats the American way. Please reject authoritarianism and anti-democratic propaganda and the despicable Trump lie that continues to weaken our nation.
Does this mean no more permanent absentee status for our senior voters? Or even younger voters who prefer to vote at home and mail or hand in their ballots to the Elections Office in downtown SLO?
As a partisan [Libertarian] candidate [eleven [11] times] in this county since 1994, I have spent many an hour in the Election’s Office and found the staff to be capable and efficient at all times. Assisting and guiding me through the hoops in order to place my name on the ballot. Said hoops becoming more and more complex over time.
Suggesting any one in that office from the elected County Clerk down to the newest staff member would in any way interfere in the election or allow fraudulent votes to be cast is beyond belief and frightening.
Such accusations being made by voters of one political party while all the others
– we do have six [6] ballot qualified political parties in California, after all,
even if the candidates from four [4] are denied access to the November ballot since Prop 14
[described as a way to increase voter participation in the voter pamphlet] –
remain silent should raise serious questions as to the motivation of those individuals.
Seeing the claims of fraud come from one candidate and that candidate’s supporters and nowhere else is the very best reason to reject them.
It is a sad day indeed when the public is told not to trust it’s government by some members of that government as well as those of us who tend not to trust any government or other control of our lives and fortunes
This county needs to get these three Trumpers out of their seats on this board. The demographics are changing so let’s hope we can sweep this mess out next time. Jimmy almost won last time so….
Time to remove Supervisor Compton–her seat is up in 2022. Jimmy Paulding has filed papers to run in 2022 (He lost by only 60 votes in 2018). If you are tired of business as usual with the BOS, start thinking ahead and donate to Jimmy’s campaign. San Luis Obispo deserves much better than what we have been seeing from the conservative majority. I live in Cambria (District 2) and am spreading the news here; it’s working–folks are donating to Jimmy’s campaign.
Demographics are becoming more conservative. Young people are flocking to the party. Have been encouraging those who left California in the past to return to join the fight against liberalism. RETAKE CALIFORNIA 2022,2024 and FOREVER. As a person of “color” I am seeing my fellows also leaving the plantation party and vote Republican. It’s about time these racist democrats stop taking our vote for granted and their incessant pandering and meddling in our politics is no longer welcome. Freedom for all, opportunity for all. Re-elect the Board 5-0 Republican. Remaking this state’s politics will take time, but the time is NOW.
The pandemic is subsiding, so why not go back to the original voting process?
The whacky liberals see conspiracy behind everything, we cannot trust them with our country.
Abandon Democrats in 2022/2024.
Can anyone name a single public election in California during the past hundred years that was won or lost because of voter fraud?
Our system has minimized potential voter fraud. Theres no good reason to further minimize voter access to casting a ballot.
Voter suppression is anti-democratic and unfair and should not be accepted by the voters on the central coast Who have enjoyed fair access for years. This is not the time or the place to ramp up anti-democracy measures.
FRAUD Suppression more like. Cheaters hate it when you catch them, will deny even if you see them doing it and will tell you that you are crazy for believing your very eyes….
Can anyone name a single public election in California during the past hundred years that was won or lost because of voter fraud?
If our current system is not broken, why are we trying to fix it?
From the Brookings research institute: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings…
The current system will work when government gets out of the way. When government lets free people conduct business without regulations and oppressive taxation. When politicians’ pandering practices for votes are limited, criminals are incarcerated, looters and rioters are arrested, vagrants are told to leave and traditional American values are once again lauded and taught to our children in schools, then and ONLY then, will there be peace. Then the greatest experiment in freedom known as the UNITED STATES of AMERICA will rise to it’s destined place as the shining example of what can be when free people are unencumbered by tyranny. The system is not broken, it is muzzled by liberals in government.
If our government gets out of the way as you wish, who will hold and regulate elections?
You need to think some of these things through.
Vagrants and rioters have the same right to vote as you and I do. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is in the United States. We want as many citizens as possible to feel part of the system and have their voices heard. That’s a big part of what democracy is all about. We must not let bigotry and voter suppression derail democracy.
No. A criminal does not have the right to vote if they have committed a felony, and never should have. No merit needed to vote means cheating, which means leftist, democrat politics. The democrat party wants convicted felons to vote, child rapists to vote, illegal aliens to vote, dead people to vote, vagrants to vote twice, elderly folks with dementia to vote, central americans to vote, people in the moon to vote. They sure are an inclusionary bunch! But if you have proper identification and are an American citizen or here legally, to the democrat party, you are second class and need to be ashamed of your privilege and bend over backwards for lunacy in order to reconcile “crimes” against folks who were never the victims of anything (except democrat party pandering and fraud) by folks who lived 150 years ago. Makes perfect sense? NOT! The MENTAL ILLNESS that is liberal democrat politics and policy MUST be extinguished from the earth by sensical, compassionate, conservative people across the ethnic spectrum. I look forward to the world where intelligence and merit define people rather than skin color and exploitability.
What is it that you need that you don’t have? What are you afraid of losing? Is there anything that you want to do that you don’t have the freedom to do?
As we can see from the anti- democracy comments above, there are some Republicans who insist that the right to vote in California elections should be based on a merit system similar to laws used to deny blacks the right to vote in Southern states. That attitude is just another facet of voter suppression aimed at giving an advantage to Republican candidates and making our election system more like the dictatorial, authoritarian political system the citizens of Russia suffer with.
Tommy Gong,
I hope your wife is well, and you owe your attorney a special thanks for getting her sentenced by a liberal, weak-on-crime judge. Please pay the money she stole back to the schoolchildren.
Go back to the original pre-pandemic procedures.
Demand that ALL voters show a valid ID.
Allow for transparency from both the left and the right.
The most basic right in a democracy is the right to vote, but it too should have standards applied to its process.
Tommy Gong has been a competent and responsible clerk recorder. Under difficult and changing conditions, our local elections have been run very well.
What a shame that In their anti-Democratic voter suppression efforts, local Republicans not respecting or honoring Mr. Gong’s successful efforts to ensure our elections are run fairly and according to the law. Instead, some local Republicans are hoping to replace Mr. Gong with a click recorder who will favor the Republican party and prevent eligible non-Republican voters from casting their ballots.
For all those in the county who want fair elections, it’s important to support Tommy Gong and all his hard work on our behalf in support of democracy and the United States Constitution.
We all have an interest in free and fair elections, and do not allow the whacky left to let you believe only leftists want integrity in the election process. Contrary to debased, untrue allegations that Republicans want to suppress any vote, the effort by conservatives has been to insure that only properly registered LEGAL ballots are cast in our elections. What is wrong with that?
The whacky liberals attempting to promote a false narrative, and I think most people of even reasonable intelligence understand that Tommy Gong has some pretty serious issues involving his professional and personal reputation. It is a matter of public record that his wife, Sherry Gong, illegally embezzled money intended for schoolchildren. It is also a matter of public record that Tommy Gong’s involvement in the crime has not been identified, and he very well could have conspired with his wife to commit and cover-up these crimes.
The bottom line is that ALL public servants ought to be held to a high standard, and it is reasonable for people to consider alternatives to our current elections chief, Mr. Gong is a strongly partisan liberal, and SLO County deserves an IMPARTIAL elections chief.
Demand ALL voters show an ID card when voting, it’s only common sense.
Our nation has continually done a great job of preventing voter and election fraud without suppressing the voting rights of ethnic minorities. The Republican Party wants to change that, doing everything they are able to do to prevent people from exercising their right to vote.
Can anyone name a single election in California in the past hundred years that was one or lost because of voter or election fraud?
If our system is not broken, why do Republicans want to change it? The obvious reason is because they want to prevent people from voting who may not vote Republican. The Republican Party is desperate, feeling they cannot win elections without preventing a significant portion of the population from voting and exercising their rights. The Republican Party is afraid of majority rule and democracy and are therefore doing everything he can to destroy the democratic system that has worked so well for us all these years.
Even more disturbing, the aim is to prevent ethnic minorities from exercising their rights.
Unfortunately theres a long history in the United States, particularly in the southern states, where voter ID laws have been used arbitrarily to deny eligible voters the right to vote. These tactics were particularly successful in preventing black people from exercising their right to vote, creating alienation, animosity and distrust of the government. This has been a big factor in the racial tensions we suffer with to this day. We must do everything we can to prevent the republican party to continue its efforts to suppress the vote of racial minorities that they do not favor. and all those most inclined to oppose the Republicans effort to create an authoritarian dictatorship in United States. Greater access eligible voters have to cast a ballot the better. It creates a sense of belonging and responsibility among voters. Its good for our nation.
Tommy Gong has been an outstanding clerk recorder. During The very difficult Covid pandemic, Mr. Gong made sure our elections went smoothly and fairly. Republican party efforts to replace Mr. Gong with someone who will bend rules and break laws to favor Republicans over Democrats is despicable.
Don’t believe Democrat/leftist scare tactics, they use racial incitement as an electoral strategy, and people who think mock the liberal establishment.
OF COURSE voters should be required to show proper identity when voting, and only the whacky left would try to create a false narrative about so-called voter suppression.
It is, in fact, ‘electoral integrity’.
Republicans are eager to suppress the voting of minorities because the Republican party is in trouble after aligning itself in support of the world- renowned lying, thieving, racist pussy grabber-in-chief.
Can anyone name a single election in California in the last hundred years that was won or lost because of voter fraud? If the system is not broken, why do Republicans want to corrupt it?
Yes. All of them since 2000. Communist chinese party….errrrrrrr democrat party kicked it into high gear then. Democrat party is corrupt, the party of child rape (Ca senate bill 145). If you continue to elect those who condone what that party stands for GOD BLESS you.
If as president and commander in chief Donald Trump was unable to secure our national election integrity, he failed as a leader. The symbolism of that failure was the January 6 insurrection. Total security failure. Donald Trump was in way over his head. Donald Trump can paint things gold, but he’s been a failure at forging anything in gold that will last the test of time. His shine is thin and will never last. Donald Trump is corrosive.
How far must we go to accommodate voters who are willing to camp out overnight on the sidewalk to buy the latest iPhone, but can’t find 5 minutes to drop by the polls ?
Answer: Mail them their ballots. It’s easy. Then they can mail them back filled out. So far the system has been working well. After mailing back the ballot, the voter can go about typical daily tasks, including waiting in lines, shopping, school etc. Yes, after voting, some people even wait in lines to buy iPhones. No problem with that. Most everyone has to have a cell phone these days. One day we may be voting through them. That’s the modern world.
China makes the cell phones. Voting using your phone would be Chi-com heaven. Paper ballots and voting IN PERSON with a VALID ID at a polling place assures election transparency and alleviates any concern of fraud. Mail in ballots for rural voters and folks with handicaps which make voting cumbersome are already accepted. Blanket mail in voting is fertile fraud territory, that’s why a party that can not win any kind of majority legally (democrat) seek it so furtively. “Making voting easier and more convenient” makes it “easier and more convenient” for cheating. The “modern world? is replete with democrat secular people that cheat, luckily it’s MORE replete with Americans that see through the crap.