Voting opens on June 2 to elect a new San Luis Obispo Clerk-Recorder. The position entails running elections, handling birth and death certificates and issuing marriage licenses.
Voting takes place every four years, and this year’s ballot features three candidates: incumbent Elaina Cano, a Democrat from Arroyo Grande; Vanessa Rozo, a Republican from Grover Beach; and Gaea Powell, a nonpartisan candidate from Arroyo Grande.
This year, questions surrounding voter transparency and accessibility are central issues in the race as Americans continue to debate trust in public trust in elections at a national scale.
Elaina Cano — Democrat
Elaina Cano resides in Arroyo Grande with her husband and has held the clerk-recorder position since November 2021. Cano has worked in elections for 20 years and got her start in the city of San Luis Obispo.
Cano’s campaign focuses on instilling confidence and awareness to voters about their elections. Recently, Cano established a Public Information Office, which she identifies as a key accomplishment on her website.
“Having a public information officer has allowed us to be proactive instead of reactive,” Cano said in an interview with Mustang News. “We are now across, I believe, seven different platforms to reach different people. Having the public information officer has allowed us to expand beyond the legally required notices.”
Read more about Cano’s goals
Security in elections is a major priority within Cano’s clerk-recorder’s office.
“There are security procedures in place every step of the way,” Cano said, regarding ballot collection and election processes.
Cano believes her office has established strong accountability when questions from voters arise.
“We can prove where ballots were collected, who was there and how many ballots were involved,” Cano said.
Cano also discussed her plans to implement a real-estate fraud notification program to protect property owners from potential fraud. The new system would alert residents about any transaction regarding their property.
“That’s a major security measure because people sometimes try to record false documents against somebody else’s property, and the property owner has no idea,” Cano said.
Homeowners can run into trouble trying to sell their property if a false document had been attributed to a property, and Cano’s system would prevent that.
When asked what separates Cano from her competitors, she referenced her experience as a separating factor.
“Nobody walks into my office and tells me how to do my job. The reason I know how to do it is because I have decades of experience in every aspect of the office, from starting as a temporary employee answering phones and directing people where to go, to where I am now,” Cano said.
Cano touched on her availability to San Luis Obispo residents.
“I’ve worked very hard to build public trust by going out into the community and proving that what we do complies with the law,” she said. “I’ve made myself accessible. You can call me, come into the office and speak with me directly.”
Cano’s ability to foster communication between her office and the everyday voter is central to her campaign, she said.
Cano delivered a final message to Cal Poly students who are unsure who to vote for this year.
“When Cal Poly students are deciding who to vote for, they should think about who they trust to manage these processes responsibly,” she said.“You wouldn’t take your car to somebody who only knows how to fill the gas tank and ask them to fix the engine. To me, it’s the same principle here.”
Vanessa Rozo — Republican
Vanessa Rozo moved into San Luis Obispo County 33 years ago and currently resides in Grover Beach with her husband. Rozo is also a small business owner of N-Hance Wood Refinishing in Oceano. She believes her entrepreneurial endeavors have equipped her with the skills to serve as the next clerk-recorder, according to her website.
Rozo’s campaign platform focuses on election transparency and modernizing voter systems. She aims to do this by allowing mail-in ballots for all registered voters in California and vetting all potential poll workers. In doing so, she hopes to uphold nonpartisan values and lower voter disenfranchisement, according to her website
Ultimately, Rozo is running to “restore and maintain public trust in the election process and the integrity of public records.”
Rozo’s team was contacted four times for an interview but did not respond.
Gaea Powell — nonpartisan
Powell is a resident of Arroyo Grande, who ran to be the town’s mayor in 2022. She currently works as a business consultant and claims that she brings “the diverse skills, organizational insight, and leadership needed to manage the complex responsibilities and sworn duties of the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office,” according to her website.
Powell’s three pillars of running as stated on her website are as follows: standing against government gamesmanship and restoring election legitimacy, protecting constitutional rights from state and local overreach and radical transparency and accountability.
Powell sees inconsistency in voting standards, citing an instance in 2024 where she claims a resident of San Luis Obispo Country moved homes and received multiple ballots at both addresses before registering at her new address, according to her website.
Her campaign centers on more restrictive voting laws such as requiring voter identification and same-day election results. Contrary to her opponents, Powell would only allow mail-in ballots in special circumstances.
Separate from her campaign platform, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office announced in June 2025 that that they filed charges against Powell in connection with alleged election fraud tied to the 2022 and 2024 Arroyo Grande mayoral election cycles.
The District Attorney’s Office is accusing Powell of eight felony charges and one misdemeanor for the following:
- voter registration fraud
- filing a false declaration of candidacy
- fraudulent voting
- failure to file campaign finance reports
- perjury by declaration
Powell denies all charges and cites herself as a target due to her political stance. She is due for trial in the coming weeks.
Powell addressed the charges on her website, explaining that the charges “came after [she] began persistently and publicly speaking out about government overreach, election practices in San Luis Obispo County, and serious concerns [she] raised to the District Attorney’s Office regarding child sexualization and abuse in [the] schools.”
If Powell is convicted, she would be disqualified from running per California Elections Code Section 20.
Powell’s team was contacted four times for an interview but did not respond.