Ballot counting is still underway for the special election for a board position within the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD).
Angela Hollander a former neo-natal nurse has been involved with the district for years.
Kenney Enney, who is currently a rancher, was previously ousted from his board member role last year.
The latest numbers shared by the San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder’s Office show Enney leading the race with nearly 52% of the votes as of Tuesday night.
Holllander has 48% of the votes. That is only in San Luis Obispo County.
With eligible voters in Monterey County, there is a separate ballot count taking place.
According to the Monterey County Elections, Enney has 44 votes in his favor and Hollander has 16 votes as of Tuesday night.
“We share voters with Monterey County and so they do their process and we do our process and then, we will certify and those will be the final results at that point,” explained Elaina Cano, the San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder.
Votes in both San Luis Obispo County and Monterey County add up to 5,173 for Enney and 4,759 for Hollander.
“As of now, we still have a little more than 2,000 ballots, vote-by-mail ballots that were received by mail either yesterday or today, and those that were returned at a polling place by the voters or dropped in a drop box, so we still have a couple of thousand vote-by-mail ballots that we still need to process and count, and that's what will be in the Friday's results,” explained Cano.
Cano said voter turnout was pretty low in this special election at only 32%. There are a total of 30,705 PRJUSD registered voters.
“If all goes well, I think the latest that I would certify would be May 12th, but it certainly could be much sooner than that,” said Cano.
KSBY News reached out to both candidates to get their takes on this special election.
"The race is still too close to call, but I’m excited about the outpouring of support,” said Enney in a statement. “We stood up to the establishment and have opened people's eyes as to the problems in the district.”
“We have definitely changed the narrative and I hope parents and citizens become more involved in what is going on," added Enney.
Hollander also responded to the request with the following statement:
“I remain very positive and upbeat. We ran a positive campaign, received positive reinforcement from the community, and loved meeting with voters and hearing what is on their minds. It’s about the students. […] and regardless of the outcome my work will continue on for their future and the future of our region.”
This election is expected to cost the school district nearly $500,000 dollars.
Another round of vote counts will be released on Friday.
To see the latest numbers in San Luis Obispo, click here.
To view results from Monterey County Elections,click here.
