A week ago, on Election Night, ballot results showed Michael Erin Woody ahead of Jim Dantona in the race for San Luis Obispo County District 2 Supervisor by 241 votes.
Two days later, the results flipped, showing Dantona in the lead.
As of Tuesday evening, he was ahead by 886 votes.
KSBY News reporter Valentina Saldaña asked Cal Poly Political Science Professor Michael Latner how common it is for leads to flip in local races like this.
“Well, I wouldn’t say common that it’s historical, it is more common since 2016 so about 10 years I guess,” Latner said.
He explained that both Republicans and Democrats used to vote by mail at about the same rate, but following Donald Trump’s claims questioning the legitimacy of voting by mail, Republicans now tend to vote in person more than Democrats.
He added that with in-person votes counted on Election Night, this can cause races to flip since mail-in votes would still need to be counted.
Dantona shared how he felt seeing that he was trailing on Election Night.
“Obviously, when we saw the early returns were not going our way, you know, you’re concerned and it was really interesting to me because I had been out knocking doors and heard from so many people like, ‘We voted for you,’" he said. "So, I was like, I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed.”
Woody said he’ll be holding off on commenting until the election is certified.
“I think none of us will feel settled until those last ballots are counted and they certify it,” Dantona said.
The ballot counting process has been ongoing since Election Night and is expected to continue for the next few weeks.
“We are systematically making our way through," said Erin Clausen, San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder's Office spokesperson. "Everything we do is open to the public so if you have questions, if you want to see these processes for yourself and ask us about them while we do it, you are more than welcome to.”
As for the chance of more flip-flops happening in a tight supervisor race, Latner said, “I’d say it’s very unlikely but it’s certainly possible. I mean, it’s a close election and anything can happen in a close election.”
As of Tuesday, June 9, San Luis Obispo County still had 37,081 unprocessed ballots.
Click here for the latest result updates.
