Supervisor Lynn Compton

San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Lynn Compton is leading Jimmy Paulding by 62 votes, according to unofficial results posted by San Luis Obispo County elections officials on Friday. With 129 ballots out, many of which may not be counted in the end, Compton has likely won reelection.

On Friday evening, the San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder’s Office’s most recent figures have Compton’s lead over Jimmy Paulding at 50.17 percent of 18,288 votes counted. That’s a margin of 62 votes.

While it appears Compton will likely win the seat, there are still 64 provisional ballots, 49 vote by mail ballots with signature issues and 18 conditional voter registration ballots that could be included in the final tally. Statewide, about 15 percent of provisional ballots are unable to be certified, meaning the bulk of the remaining 64 provisional ballots will not be counted.

In addition, most of the remaining 49 mail in ballots have signature errors. County Clerk Recorder Tommy Gong believes he can continue accepting signature corrections until he has officially called the election. Meanwhile, lawyers for Compton filed a lawsuit asking the court to compel Gong to abide by his earlier June 13 deadline for accepting corrected vote by mail ballots. Judge Barry LaBarbera is scheduled to listen to arguments for and against the time extension at 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the SLO County Courthouse.

For the past year and a half, Republican supervisors Compton, John Peschong and Debbie Arnold have held a board majority and also the coveted board chair position. Democratic supervisors Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson promoted Paulding’s election bid in an attempt to take back the board majority.