California voters approved Proposition 50 in Tuesday’s election. San Luis Obispo County residents voted to pass Proposition 50 in Tuesday’s election, with 44,017 votes in favor and 32,712 against, with about 57% of voters voting for the measure according to preliminary results.
Proposition 50 is a California ballot initiative led by Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to Texas’s redistricting efforts earlier this year. In response to pressure from President Donald Trump, the Texas state legislature passed a new plan to increase the number of congressional seats for the Republican Party and maintain its majority, according to past Mustang News coverage.
Before Election Day, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office reported receiving 80,000 mail-in ballots. According to Erin Clausen, public information specialist for the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, this makes up 45% of the mail-in ballots the county sent out to voters.
Clausen added that on Election Day, traffic at voting locations and drop off boxes seemed normal. There was less traffic than last year, yet many voters dropped off their mail-in ballots today despite the county collecting mail-in ballots votes on Oct. 6.
First-time voters dominated voter turnout on campus
Over 500 students voted at the Performing Arts Center and University Union between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., according to Mustang News estimates from the day.
Most students said they felt “responsible” to express their right to vote and said they felt more heard in this election compared to last year’s national election. Physics sophomore Nicholas Taylor said this election is the only time his vote matters as a California resident.
“Obviously, I still vote in the presidential election because it’s kind of important, but my vote matters a lot less there. Here, I have a direct impact on something that’s being changed and directly affects my life as well as the lives of everyone around me,” he said.
Other voters mentioned how easy the voting process was due to there only being one ballot item. Many first-time voters said they were excited to participate in their first election.
“I feel like a lot of the younger generation came out to vote, and I think we could really make a difference,” civil engineering freshman Alayshia Wright said.
Like Wright, other student voters emphasized the importance of speaking up and their privilege during this special election.
“Using our voices in California and any other state can help bring equity in places where it is being shut down. As a person of privilege, it is my responsibility to vote,” city and regional planning sophomore Allie Sherman said.
When will the results be finalized?
After tonight, poll results will be added periodically over the course of the evening until they are all counted. However, the count doesn’t end there.
The county will count all the provisional and mail-in ballots from Election Day and post an unprocessed ballots report at the end of Thursday that will document how many different ballot types have to be counted.
On Friday, the county will then count mail-in ballots and add them to the total. Clausen said they will probably count three times after Election Day to wrap up results. They will also spend the next few weeks reaching out to those who didn’t sign their mail-in ballot envelopes to give them a chance to add a signature to count their ballot.
The county will certify the final results by Dec. 2.
Roman Noravian, Maya Reiken and Chloë Schauermann contributed to reporting on this story.