What happened during SLO County election recounts 40 years ago? ‘It did open our eyes’

Free and fair elections are the foundation of democracy — and at some point they have to finish with a result.

Recently the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s office announced an office expansion to streamline elections operations.

As with any leadership system there are flaws, but the best corrective to a failed office holder is the opportunity to recall or vote them out in the next regular election. It might not even be a policy mistake, just changing of political tides.

The elections process can be confrontational, messy and chaotic. A well-founded decision requires an informed electorate to show up to cast ballots.

Public trust in results also requires that the County Clerk-Recorder’s office manage elections with accuracy and transparency.

National conspiracy theorists like to wind up their audience by muttering with little evidence that the system is rigged.

To rig the various systems unique in each county, short circuiting the checks and balances built in, without leaving fingerprints? That’s a flat-earth-level ask.

True, elections can be close, occasionally decided by a mere handful of votes. Humans can make mistakes. A paper trail is needed to verify results when challenged.

And our County Clerk-Recorder’s office has, as do others nationally, a built-in process for resolving the issue and coming to a fair and final decision.

Most voters want assurance that the process is transparent, fair and can be trusted.

Recently the county saw a closely watched supervisor’s election race recount result in the re-election of Supervisor Bruce Gibson.

His opposition asked for a recount and outside witnesses observed the process. The 13-vote margin of victory was confirmed for Gibson. However, that was not a unique moment in San Luis Obispo County history.

Decades earlier, a similar story played out in the San Luis Obispo County supervisor’s race between Jeffrey Jorgensen and Ron Dunin.

Ruth Brackett was head of an organization challenging the election. Though she lost this challenge, she would two years later run for supervisor and win.

Larry Bauman wrote this story July 1, 1980, for the Telegram-Tribune:

Group calls off ballot recount

A recent recount of ballots for two county supervisorial races was called off Monday after the group that initiated the hand count decided there was no hope results would change.

The Countywide Coalition for Less Government threw in the towel after spending $480 for one full day of election officials’ work Friday and $30 for one official who unexpectedly showed up for work Monday.

“We consider that an educational value,” said Ruth Brackett, president of the coalition.

“It did open our eyes to how well the ballots are taken care of and how much double checking there is,” said Brackett.

She said her group reached a consensus that there was little chance the hand count would show a change in vote totals to change the outcome.

After Friday’s hand count by 16 election board members, there was no change in vote totals for 20 of the 22 precincts in the 5th District supervisor’s race, won June 3 by Jeffrey G. Jorgensen.

Jorgensen’s victory was a narrow one — he avoided a runoff in November by only 19 votes — and Brackett hoped the hand count would show a different tally.

Her group had endorsed Jorgensen’s opponent, Ron Dunin, in the 5th district contest. Dunin ran second in the June 3 election.

Brackett also requested a recount of the 3rd District race, in which supervisor’s Chairman Kurt P. Kupper won re-election against Joanne Fenton and Maysel G. Fuller.

The coalition backed Fenton, who is also the group’s legal adviser.

Kupper, however, won by a more substantial margin, avoiding a runoff by 212 votes.

After observing the first day’s hand counting of ballots, Brackett said she realized “there’s not going to be anything wrong with the computer — what goes in one end is going to come out the other end.”

She said one of the Countywide Coalition’s concerns was about possible tampering with unused ballots — the extra ballots not marked during the election.

After learning more about the election procedures, though, Brackett said she felt that “in general there are enough checks and balances in the system.”