Heather Moreno on track to win SLO County supervisor race, new ballot count shows

Stephanie Zappelli
·3 min read

Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno is on track to win the District 5 county supervisor race after the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office counted another 18,398 ballots on Wednesday.

Moreno widened her lead by 791 votes since the last ballot count on Friday.

As of Wednesday at 3:52 p.m., Moreno had 9,068 votes, or 56.4%, while her opponent Atascadero Mayor Pro Temp Susan Funk had 7,010 votes, or 43.6%.

The duo is competing to replace current Supervisor Debbie Arnold when she retires from the board in January.

As of Wednesday, the elections office had counted a total of 89,297 ballots, bringing voter participation in the county to 50.5%.

Staff will count most of the remaining ballots on Friday, according to Clerk-Recorder’s Office spokesperson Erin Clausen.

After Friday’s count, “there will be some outstanding provisional ballots and ballots still needing signatures cured,” Clausen wrote in an email to The Tribune on Wednesday.

If a voter’s signature didn’t match the county’s records, the Clerk-Recorder’s Office contacted them to ask them to cure their signature by Monday at 5 p.m.

After that, the elections office can count the final remaining ballots, Clausen said.

The Clerk-Recorder’s Office plans to certify the election results ahead of schedule by March 27, Clausen said. State law requires the county to certify the election results by April 4.

Heather Moreno, left, and Susan Funk talk to supporters at their Election Night parties in Atascadero on March 5, 2024, while awaiting returns in the race for District 5 San Luis Obispo County supervisor.
Heather Moreno, left, and Susan Funk talk to supporters at their Election Night parties in Atascadero on March 5, 2024, while awaiting returns in the race for District 5 San Luis Obispo County supervisor.

Democrats lead SLO County races for State Legislature, Congress

Incumbent Democrats continue to be the top vote-getters to represent San Luis Obispo County in the U.S. House of Representatives, California State Assembly and State Senate.

The top two finishers in each race will progress to the general election, when voters will select their official representative.

At top, Dawn Addis, left, is challenged by Dalila Epperson in the race for the District 30 state Assembly seat. At bottom, Gregg Hart, right, is challenged by Sari Domingues in the District 37 race.
At top, Dawn Addis, left, is challenged by Dalila Epperson in the race for the District 30 state Assembly seat. At bottom, Gregg Hart, right, is challenged by Sari Domingues in the District 37 race.

San Luis Obispo County is split into two California State Assembly Districts.

Nipomo shares District 37 with Santa Barbara County, while the rest of San Luis Obispo County falls into District 30 with parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

The most recent ballot count update from the Secretary of State’s Office shows incumbent Dawn Addis as the front-runner for the District 30 seat, with 36,671 more votes than Republican challenger Dalila Epperson.

Addis had 65% of the vote, while Epperson had 35%, as of 12:12 p.m. on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, incumbent Gregg Hart led the District 37 race, according to the most recent ballot count report.

Hart won 60.8% of the vote, while challenger Sari Domingues had 39.2%.

John Laird, top left, Tony Virrueta, top right, and Eric Tao, bottom left, are running for State Senate District 17, along with Micheal Oxford, not picured. Monica Limon, bottom right, is running for District 21 state senator against Elijah Mack, not pictured.
John Laird, top left, Tony Virrueta, top right, and Eric Tao, bottom left, are running for State Senate District 17, along with Micheal Oxford, not picured. Monica Limon, bottom right, is running for District 21 state senator against Elijah Mack, not pictured.

San Luis Obispo County is also divided into two State Senate districts.

The southern and eastern portion of the county, including Grover Beach, Oceano, Nipomo, the Carrizo Plain and Cuyama, is now part of District 21 — which extends into Ventura County.

There, incumbent Monique Limón leads the race against college student Elijah Mack, 62.3% to 37.7%.

The rest of the county remains in District 17, which also includes a portion of Monterey County along with San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.

Incumbent State Sen. John Laird led the District 17 race with 65.8% of the vote.

Tony Virrueta is poised to advance to the general election with 20.9% of the vote, trailed by Eric Tao with 11.2% and Michael Oxford with 2%.

Six candidates are running for Congress to represent San Luis Obispo County. At top, competing for the District 19 seat are, from left, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Santa Cruz software engineer Sean Dougherty and Atascadero business owner Jason Anderson. At bottom, running for the District 24 seat are, from left, Rep. Salud Carbajal, Montecito campaign data analyst Thomas Cole, and Ojai public school teacher Helena Pasquarella.

Incumbent Rep. Jimmy Panetta has collected 66.2% of the vote in the race for District 19, which includes the northern portion of San Luis Obispo County along with parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara counties.

Also advancing to November is Jason Michael Anderson with 27.3% of the vote. Sean Dougherty trailed a distant third with 6.5%.

In District 24, which includes the southern part of San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, incumbent Rep. Salud Carbajal is the top vote-getter in the District 24 race with 54.2%, followed by Thomas Cole with 36.7%.

Helena Pasquarella trailed in third place with 9%, as of Wednesday afternoon.