Front Page  »  

Woman accused of election fraud seeks continuance, denied

August 30, 2026

Gaea Powell

By KAREN VELIE

The San Luis Obispo County woman facing nine counts of election fraud lost a motion on Wednesday to continue her trial, which is set to begin on Monday.

Prosecutors charged Gaea Powell in June 2025 with violating multiple election laws when she ran for mayor of Arroyo Grande in 2022 and 2024. She allegedly registered to vote at an address on James Way in Arroyo Grande where she did not live and failed to properly report income and campaign expenditures.

Charged with eight felonies and one misdemeanor, Powell is facing up to eight years and seven months in prison. She is acting as her own attorney.

During a pretrial hearing on Aug. 26, the court noted that Powell had failed to file her witness list and motions in limine by the Aug. 21 deadline.

Powell, however, did file a 23 page motion to continue the trial because she wanted several people running for office to testify after the November election. She also said she was slowed down because of her anxiety, and that she needed more time to prepare.

Deputy District Attorney Ben Blumenthal said she had time to file a civil suit while failing to file motions in her criminal case. The judge then denied her request.

SLO County Superior Court Judge Timothy Covello also denied her request to submit audio tapes as evidence, noting he would not permit hearsay. Covello then warned Powell that he has concerns she will bring up irrelevant arguments to the jury.

Powell raised her voice as she argued with the judge that showing a pattern of wrongful prosecution was part of her defense.

On Friday, Powell filed her witness list and motions in limine, which will be heard on Monday.

Jury selection is slated to begin on Tuesday.l

 


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


7 Comments

Someone needs to introduce her to a competent hair stylist. That rat mop needs to go.


0

LOCK HER UP. Throw fellow homophobe and pro book banner Kessler in jail with her.


19

I guess things change, back in the day we were supposed to believe Allan Settle lived in a house with several college students instead of his McMansion near Arroyo Grande so he could hold SLO political office and that wasn’t a problem.


6

There are bigger fish to fry than this dufus. Like the entire state of Cali-fraudia.


5

Feel free to move.


15

Let me try to figure this out: she has railed repeatedly against SLO County elections claiming massive amount of fraud (there has been ZERO evidence brought forward to prove this lie) yet she herself is facing 8 felonies and one misdemeanor committing acts of election fraud AND she was a recent candidate for SLO County clerk-recorder, running on a platform of ‘bringing integrity to our elections.’ If this wasn’t such a serious offense it would be laughable. Who does she think she is? I hope the prosecutors will prevail in this case. She needs to go to jail, but if she does, we’re going to hear an earful from her of ‘wrongful prosecution.’ Rule of law, Ms. Powell. You should read up on it.


27

This lady appears to be mentally ill, a complete narcissist or both. They need to put an end to all her nonsense.


24