All Clerk-Recorder services related to elections and voting are listed alphabetically here.
If you're a new SLO County voter or have a question about voting in the county, be sure to check out our Voter FAQs.
San Luis Obispo County offers voters with disabilities options that provide for a private and independent voting environment that works for you. These options include:
- Vote-by-Mail: Your ballot is automatically sent to you. Keep it safe and return your ballot by mail, drop box, or polling place.
- Voting at a Polling Place: You can go to your assigned polling place on Election Day.
- Accessible ballot-marking machines (ICX) are available at every polling place on Election Day and at the County Clerk-Recorder offices beginning 29 days prior to the election.
- Accessible Voter Information Guide on the Web: Voter Information Guides are available on the Clerk-Recorder’s web site with the use of personal accessible navigational tools and screen reader technology. Use our Polling Place Lookup to access.
Remote Accessible Vote-by-Mail
A remotely accessible vote-by-mail voting experience can be provided by the elections staff for all voters, including those with disabilities. This includes using web-based tools on a personal computer, printer, and one’s personal assistive device(s) (screen readers, tactile switches, closed captioning, sip and puff system, etc.) to access and mark one’s ballot, then return it by mail to the Elections Office.
Details and a fact sheet can be found here, or you can contact the Elections office for information at 805-781-5228.
Other Assistance for Visually, Hearing or Speech Impaired:
The Secretary of State’s Office has a TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) to provide elections information: 1-800-833-8683 (1-800-TDD-VOTE). Large-print format of the state ballot measures continues to be available.
This service provides information for qualifying an initiative to go to election and placing a measure on the ballot.
This service provides access to the online portal used to file campaign finance disclosures. County Ordinance No. 3261 requires electronic filing of campaign disclosure documents for all candidates and committees. Treasurers must use the NetFile Filer login link to file campaign finance disclosures (Fair Political Practices Commission Forms 410, 460, 496, 497, 461, and 465). These documents are public and may be audited by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and California Franchise Tax Board to ensure that voters are fully informed and improper practices prohibited. It is the responsibility of candidates and committees to understand the rules regulating their campaigns in California.
County Ordinance 3487 addresses local campaign finance contribution limits.
The California Political Reform Act requires candidates and committees to file campaign statements by specified deadlines disclosing contributions received and expenditures made. These documents are public and may be viewed using the Campaign Finance Disclosure Public Portal. The filings available online are redacted. Please contact the Clerk-Recorder office for unredacted versions.
Please note that this portal is not managed or maintained by the County of San Luis Obispo. It is managed and maintained by a third-party company that hosts campaign disclosure forms, documents and statements for local California governments. But if you need assistance, please contact the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
These links provide information on current and upcoming election(s) being conducted by the County of San Luis Obispo.
This service provides a list of current Countywide officeholders, term lengths, and term expiration dates.
Information regarding current recall efforts is posted here for San Luis Obispo county voters' information
This service provides election results, documents, and information related to elections conducted by the County of San Luis Obispo. Please see Past Elections if you are looking for election results not shown here.
Summary reports of final official election results dating back to March 2000 are available online. Older results may be obtained from the Clerk-Recorder office.
This service provides information about poll watcher rules when observing procedures at polling places or the central counting location. See the Poll Watcher Guide for details.
The following are educational video resources regarding election processes. Click on any of the images below to watch a detailed video about the subject.
The Help America Vote Act requires first time voters to show identification when voting. If you registered to vote by mail after January 1, 2003 and have not previously voted in San Luis Obispo County you will be required to show your current valid photo I.D. or a copy of one of the following that shows your name and address when you go to the polls on election day: current utility bill, bank statement, government check, government paycheck, or other government document. The same requirement applies if you vote by mail.
Precincts Reported:
This is to indicate the number of precincts for which we have received and counted their precinct ballots at the central tabulation location on election night. The idea is to give an indication of how close we are to being done for the night. The final unofficial election night results report will show 100% of precincts reporting (see below for an example). For example, there are 18 consolidated voting precincts for the April 18, 2023, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Special Election. If we have received and counted the precinct ballots from 9 precincts, the Precincts Reported will show 9 of 18 (50.00%) – halfway done for the evening.
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Voters Cast:
This indicates the number and percentage of ballots counted compared to the number of registered voters as of 15 days prior to Election Day. This number will increase as ballots are counted, and the final official report for the election will indicate the final numbers, also referred to as “turnout.” For example, the final Voters Cast for the November 8, 2022, General Election was 121,156 of 182,291 which is 66.46%:
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Times Cast:
This number is shown for each contest and indicates the number of ballots counted that contain the contest. This number is broken down between Polling and Vote by Mail Ballots. For example, the final official results for the United States Representative, 24th District contest from the November 8, 2022, General Election are shown below:
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This shows that a total of 77,647 ballots were counted of 115,865 voters within that district within San Luis Obispo county. Of those ballots, 73,139 were Vote by Mail and 4,508 were cast at a polling place. You may also note that there were 86 precincts within the 24th congressional district within our county, and the turnout of those voters (67.02%) was slightly higher than the turnout countywide (66.46%).
Additional Contest-Level Information:
Undervotes – the number of ballots where the voter marked fewer ovals than the “vote for”. In the above example, it is a Vote for 1 contest, which means a total of 1,820 voters did not mark a choice for this contest.
Overvotes – the number of ballots where the voter marked more ovals than the “vote for”. In the above example, two voters marked more than one choice for this contest.
Total Votes – the number of votes for each candidate in the contest. This number will often be less than the Times Cast (ballots containing the contest) due to undervotes and overvotes.
Unresolved Write-In – the only time you may see a number other than zero in this row is on the election night reports. Write-in votes must be examined (adjudicated) by a team of two staff members who can read the voter’s handwriting and determine and allocate any votes for qualified candidates. This process is done during the official canvass period in the days following election night.
Other Counties:
To see the results for Monterey County’s portion of the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, please visit https://www.montereycountyelections.us/
This service provides election results, documents, and information related to past elections conducted by the County of San Luis Obispo. Summary reports of final official election results dating back to March 2000 are available online. Older results may be obtained from the Clerk-Recorder office.
This service allows you to look up the polling place (voting location) based on a voter's residence address in San Luis Obispo County. The polling place lookup provides the polling place name, address, sample ballot booklet, audio enabled sample ballot, accessibility details, and map location.
This service provides access to the precinct mapping information maintained by the Clerk-Recorder office for election purposes. Geographical information systems (GIS) technology has been used to maintain precinct boundaries and facilitate map printing. Precinct maps utilize GIS data maintained by various County departments and other agencies such as Public Works, Assessor, Planning & Building, cities, LAFCO, the Citizens Redistricting Commission, and the Census Bureau.
Please contact the elections team at [email protected] or 805-781-5228 with any questions.
The staff at the Clerk-Recorder's Office works hundreds of extra hours to prepare for each election, but on election morning, the process is turned over to precinct workers to administer. We need qualified personnel to serve voters who go to the polls on Election Day. Specific examples of what you will be doing include:
- Before Election Day, attend training & pick up your supplies
- Election Day, arrive at 6:00AM to set up
- Assist voters when signing in
- Issue ballots to voters and accept ballots from vote-by-mail voters
- Close the polls
- Account for ballots & pack up supplies
- Deliver the voted ballots & supplies to a central collection point
While most group members admit it is a more complicated process than they first imagined, they have also expressed a great satisfaction at contributing to an important piece of American democracy.
Click here for more information on Precinct Worker Programs
This service provides information on how to remove an elective officer (elected official) from office.
For more details, check out our printable RAVBM Fact Sheet & FAQs.
What is Remote Accessible Vote-by-Mail (RAVBM)?
The RAVBM system allows voters to vote independently and privately by marking ballot selection(s) using their own compatible technology. This system is available to all California registered voters. To use the RAVBM system, a voter must download the application, mark and print their ballot, sign the envelope (using the envelope provided with the regular vote-by-mail ballot or the voter's own envelope), then return their ballot by mail, drop box, polling place, or directly to the SLO County Elections Office.
How to use RAVBM
A voter using RAVBM:
- Requests a RAVBM from their County Election Office by application, phone, email or by reviewing their information on My Voter Status at sos.ca.gov.
- Receives an email from the County Elections Office that includes a link to the RAVBM system and a unique ballot access code.
- Uses their code to access their ballot and mark their voting choices.
- After marking, reviewing, and accepting their ballot, prints and returns their complete ballot package (containing the voted ballot, ballot declaration, and voter oath) by using the postage-paid envelope included with their original vote-by-mail ballot or by using their own envelope, which would require postage. Whichever envelope is used, it must have the voter’s signature on the outside. The voter can also return their envelope in person to a drop box, polling location, or the County Elections Office.
A voter cannot submit their selections online. It must be mailed or returned in person.
For RAVBM questions, please call the SLO County Elections Office at (805) 781-5228 Mon-Tue and Thurs-Fri between 8am and 5pm or Wed between 8am and 4pm. You may also email your questions to [email protected].
This service provides information on how an individual may run for public office. Candidate information booklets for recent elections and declarations regarding qualifications to run for office are available in the Reference section, as well as, by clicking here March 5, 2024, Presidential Primary Election.
The following information is provided pursuant to EC § 3019 regarding how to "cure" noncomparable and missing signatures on ballot identification envelopes.
This page serves as a resource for dispelling misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.
These days, information about elections and election processes isn't always reliable. Misinformation is widespread, and it's sometimes difficult to identify or combat every falsehood. Because we get much of our information from the internet and national news sources, it's also easy to think that issues reported on elsewhere are impacting us here at home. In truth, California's election systems are extremely safe and secure, and all 58 counties have a proven track record of conducting accessible and accurate elections. For an overview of current security practices, we urge you to check out this summary from the California Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State also has a valuable online resource that directly addresses some of the most common rumors regarding elections and voting at Trusted Info. We urge you to take a look and see if it has answers to some of your own questions. Another great resource from the California Secretary of State is the Voting Law Compliance Handbook, which includes specific questions, examples, and scenarios to help readers better understand important elections and voting facts.
The single most important thing anyone can do is VOTE. Most misinformation campaigns are designed to prevent votes or undermine trust in elections. If you read something you are unsure of, think about the source of the information and whether the source has anything to gain by publishing or sharing it.
Our office is committed to safe and secure elections. Please review our Voter FAQs and other pages of our web site for information about Upcoming Elections, Vote-By-Mail, Voter Registration, and many other election-related topics. You can contact our office by email at [email protected] or phone at (805) 781-5228 at any time with questions.
This service provides upcoming election information.
This service provides information about voting by mail.
This service provides information on applying for voter registration information.
New regulations governing access to voter information went into effect July 1, 2022. Please review the Secretary of State site for updated regulations.
As required by law, the County of San Luis Obispo offers facsimile ballots in the following language:
This service provides information on requesting a certified copy of your voting registration record.
This service allows you to view current voter registration numbers by State reporting district (updated weekly), and the Official Report of Voter Registration as required by and reported to California Secretary of State.
This service allows you to look up your voter registration status using the online Voter Status Lookup. Information provided includes:
- Registered city
- Registered political party
- Voter registration status (e.g. pending, active, inactive)
- Vote-by-Mail status
- Vote-by-Mail information for most recent election (if applicable)
- List of districts in which your residence is located
You must have a California driver’s license or California ID number on file in our system to access your voter registration status. If you cannot view your voter status, contact the Elections Office at [email protected] or call 805-781-5228 and we will assist you.
This service provides information about voting as provided by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and allows eligible voters to register to vote and request a vote-by-mail ballot as provided by the act.
This service allows you to look up the consolidated voting precinct for a voter's residence address in San Luis Obispo County. The search results provide the voter information guide / sample ballot, Spanish facsimile ballot, Tagalog facsimile ballot (if applicable), and accessible sample ballot (screen reader compatible) corresponding to the address entered.
This service allows you to see voting location options around the County, for dropping off a vote-by-mail ballot at an official drop box , or where you can vote in person at your assigned polling place.
Explore voting locations on Google maps, or view lists by region:
- North Coast
- North County
- San Luis Obispo
- South County
San Luis Obispo County voters can subscribe to receive automated alerts regarding the status of their ballot. Where's My Ballot? allows voters to determine how they want to be notified and provides updates on when ballots are mailed, received, counted, and if there are any issues.