Why 18,000 SLO County voters were disenfranchised

Author

Carly Heltzel
April 02, 2026

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m listening to what makes a good book to movie adaptation. Onto the five Cal Poly, SLO and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

It’s been eight years since residents of Morro Bay and Los Osos have been able to vote for a representative on the SLO County Board of Supervisors. In 2021, a controversial and “aggressively gerrymandered” district map was rolled out to favor Republican voters, only to be retracted by the Democratic board two years later. In the meantime, 18,000 voters who were switched from district to district were not allowed to cast a ballot in the last election four years ago and haven’t had a representative. “It was an insult to our local democracy,” one supervisor said.

2.

Out-of-state students might face new barriers to voting if Congress passes a proposed act that would require voters to get their IDs verified at the polls. The SAVE America Act, which will hit the Senate floor in the coming weeks, is aimed at ensuring undocumented immigrants from voting in elections, despite very little proof this is an issue. One SLO County spokesperson said election officials aren’t trained to verify any IDs, much less non-California IDs and birth certificates, which could pose an issue in SLO if the act passes.

3.

Three nonprofits are fighting to peel back one of the approvals Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant received to extend its operation, saying it violates state law. A Central Coast water authority both approved a five-year wastewater permit and certified that the 20-year operating extension proposed would comply with the Clean Water Act. The nonprofits say that the 20-year certification is unlawful because the state only has authorization to operate the plant until 2030. 

4.

California could have its first Republican governor in 15 years through a quite unusual path. If the two Republicans running for California governor split the conservative vote evenly, there’s a chance they could secure the top two shares of the primary vote, beating out the eight Democrats in the race. That would mean Californians would choose between two Republicans on the November ballot. So naturally, they are ruthlessly attacking each other. “There’s an amazing irony there,” one Republican strategist said.

5.

California is the second most difficult state for first-time homeowners. With a median home price of $785,900 and an average salary of $77,339, the golden state scored a 38 out of 100 in terms of home buying feasibility. The worst state is Hawaii, with an average cost of $720,200 and an average salary of $61,175 for a score of 32.02 out of 100. After California was New York, Florida and Washington, while the easiest markets to buy a home were Wyoming, Wisconsin and Iowa.