A10
LOCAL/STATE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Vote counting could drag close races into June
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown’s political career
began in earnest when she
won the Democratic primary
for a House seat by seven
votes.
That’s a landslide com-
pared to Rep. Jack Zika,
R-Redmond. He won his
2018 GOP primary by just
two votes.
Closed 2022 primaries
exclude more than 1 mil-
lion nonaffi liated voters from
choosing the Democratic and
Republican nominees for
governor, U.S. Senate, con-
gress and the Legislature.
Several races feature large
fi elds of candidates — 34
total in the race for governor
alone.
Put together, the possibil-
ity of election squeakers is
high.
Add in a new twist for
2022: The May 17 election
night doesn’t end at 8 p.m.
as per usual. A change
approved by the Legisla-
ture last year requires any
ballot with a postmark of
May 17 or before to be
counted through May 24.
The potential for some
seesawing
returns
and
delayed fi nal results is high.
“The nightmare sce-
nario is any race that is
closer than 1.5% to 2% on
election night,” said Jim
Moore, outreach director
for Tom McCall Center for
Civic Engagement at Pacifi c
University.
With potential recounts,
the fi nal results could be
delayed for a month or more.
Final recount demands must
be fi led with the secretary of
state by June 21 and an Elec-
tion Day Report is due from
the offi ce on July 15.
Moore said studies of
Washington state’s post-
mark law show relatively lit-
tle wobble between the pri-
mary day and the postmark
deadline.
But the 2022 primary is
Oregon’s fi rst experience
with a system that will mean
a more drawn-out offi cial end
to the election.
Adding to worries is the
balloting comes as former
President Donald Trump uses
the 2022 election campaigns
to repeat his debunked claim
that the 2020 presidential
election was stolen by Pres-
123RF
The May 17 election night doesn’t end at 8 p.m. as per usual.
A change approved by the Legislature last year requires any
ballot with a postmark of May 17 or before to be counted
through May 24.
ident Joe Biden. Any snag
will be cast in harsh light.
“We know this is big
with Republicans,” Moore
said. “We’ll see if there are
complaints in their primary.
Maybe the Republicans will
say ‘Wait for everything to
come in.’ But if a candidate
says ‘this looks like it could
be stolen and wants an inde-
pendent audit, then it could
get interesting.”
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan has mounted a major
public information cam-
paign of television, radio
and digital ads to explain
the rule changes to Ore-
gon voters in hopes of head-
ing off complaints and
misunderstandings.
“The new law could mean
that very close contests will
not be decided on election
night,” Fagan said in a state-
ment last week. “Even if the
results come in a little slower,
they will be accurate.”
The secretary of state’s
tally of ballots on Tuesday
showed 288,337 have been
returned out of 2,952,330
mailed to voters.
That is 9.2% of all bal-
lots sent to Oregon voters.
The lowest return percent-
age of Oregon’s 36 coun-
ties is Deschutes County at
7.7%. Multnomah County,
which includes Portland,
has returned just 8.8% of
the 557,702 ballots sent to
residents.
Several less populated
counties have returned twice
that number, with Grant
County leading the count at
20.3% of ballots returned.
But the percentage of
total ballots returned is mis-
leading. The voting is likely
much farther along than the
secretary of state’s numbers
suggest.
Nonpresidential primary
elections have low turnout —
33.91% in 2018. Adjusted for
an increase in voters in 2022,
the same turnout would put
ballot returns at just under
28.8%.
The fi nal voting tally
could rise or fall on a num-
ber of factors, driving higher
numbers of ballots but also a
more fragmented tally.
An open governor’s offi ce,
redistricting and a new con-
gressional seat has uncorked
a torrent of suppressed politi-
cal ambition.
With Gov. Kate Brown
unable to seek reelection
because of term limits, there
is no incumbent on the ballot
for the fi rst time since 2010.
Even that year, former Gov.
John Kitzhaber was seeking
(and would eventually win) a
return to offi ce. The last bal-
lot without an incumbent —
or Kitzhaber — was in 2002.
This year the race for gov-
ernor has drawn 19 Republi-
cans and 15 Democrats.
One each will remain after
the primary.
Former Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose, is mount-
ing a well-fi nanced “unaffi li-
ated” bid that would require
submitting about 24,000
valid signatures to the sec-
retary of state by the end of
August to be placed on the
November ballot.
Redistricting approved
last year for the 2022 election
has moved congressional
and legislative district lines.
A high-speed game of polit-
ical musical chairs played
out since September involv-
ing retirements, candidates
changing races, and head-on
collisions between offi ce-
holders seeking new jobs.
Oregon braces for challenging fi re season
By KATY NESBITT
For EO Media Group
er Bayden Men
Joseph distance runn the track at the 1A Special
strong weekend on in Baker City on May 13. The
t
District 4 track mee spot in the boys 1,500-meter in
p
to
e
senior took th 4, and also topped the podium in
a time of 4:13.8 ed in 9:29.48. Both times were
the
the 3,000 as he finish
enton, who runs in
personal bests for M eek at the 1A state track
races this w
roudly
meet in Eugene.
P onsore d b y
Sp
OF
THE
ON
BAYDEN MEN to T n ha
d a
SALEM — Despite a
long winter and cold and wet
spring, Oregon fi re authori-
ties are preparing for a chal-
lenging season.
During a press confer-
ence on Monday, May 16,
Gov. Kate Brown high-
lighted the state’s challenges
— despite the state’s rainfall
the past two months, there
are many places experienc-
ing a “mega” drought, with
worse conditions expected to
continue.
Early indications, Brown
said, are that southern Ore-
gon and the east side of the
Cascades along with the
Columbia Gorge are espe-
cially vulnerable this year.
To alleviate some of the
stress of extended drought
and increasingly large wild-
fi res, the Oregon Legisla-
ture passed Senate Bill 762
in 2019, adding funding for
additional personnel and
equipment, like air tankers
and helicopters.
Brown claimed Oregon
has one of the best response
systems in the country, but
the new funding will help
keep resources from being
maxed out when fi re season
arrives. The governor also
stressed prevention to curb
the outbreak of wildfi res.
“Please be smart and
careful when enjoying the
outdoors to prevent tragic
loss,” she said. “Being pre-
pared can mean the diff er-
ence between life and death.”
In the wake of fi res that
not only destroyed hun-
dreds of thousands of forest
and rangeland, some of Ore-
gon’s recent wildfi res, espe-
cially in September 2020,
left thousands homeless.
Brown asked that people stay
informed through outlets like
oralert.gov on fi re activity
and evacuation orders.
“If you are asked to evac-
uate, please just do it,” she
said.
Mike Shaw, Oregon
Department of Forestry’s
fi re protection chief, said
the cool, wet weather of
April and May are welcome
respite from the drought and
has helped put off fi re sea-
son, but echoed the gov-
ernor about the continued
threat of wildfi re across
most of the state.
“We are in a very signif-
icant drought pattern, espe-
cially on the east slope of the
Cascades and vast parts of
eastern, southern and central
Oregon,” he said.
According to maps pre-
dicting the national wild-
fi re outlook, the season will
likely ramp up in mid-July
and be very active in August.
Travis Medema, chief dep-
uty for the state fi re mar-
shal’s offi ce, said that is the
same time period that com-
petition for resources could
be a problem.
“We are going to try and
keep fi res small and out of
communities,” he said.
The state has 305 fi re
departments and three inci-
dent command teams.
“We will work with
local communities to bol-
ster capacity when needed,”
Medema said.
With technology that pre-
dicts lightning and detects
fuel moisture of grasses, live
fuel like trees and dead and
down material, Medema said
fi re crews can be pre-posi-
tioned in areas that are likely
to have high fi re activity.
While state and fed-
eral agencies have contracts
with air support, the Ore-
gon National Guard will also
have two Blackhawk heli-
copters that can haul 500
gallons of water at a time
and one Chinook that can fl y
with a 1,500-gallon bucket.
National Guard troops will be
trained and ready for ground
support, as well, according
to Maj. Gen. Michael Sten-
cel, the adjutant general of
the Oregon National Guard.
Andrew Phelps, direc-
tor of the Offi ce of Emer-
gency Management, said
there are several state agen-
cies coordinating eff orts for
the upcoming wildfi re sea-
son like Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Services
that works with nonprofi ts
to provide shelter and food
for those who are displaced
and Oregon Department of
Transportation that works
with the Department of For-
estry cross-training employ-
ees in fi re fi ghting and snow
removal. He said the state
also has a mutual aid agree-
ment with its neighbors.
“As seasons are longer
and more intense, the agen-
cies’ roles are keeping people
safe,” he said. “We have a
shared responsibility to pre-
pare for emergencies.”
The Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality’s focus is
on smoke management, air
quality and communication,
said Deputy Director Leah
Feldon.
Tom Roick, DEQ air
quality monitoring man-
ager said the network of
smoke monitors across Ore-
gon is expanding. He said his
department received money
to install 20 new monitors.
The information will be
shared to through the state’s
air quality index on the Ore-
gonAIR app and https://ore-
gonsmoke.blogspot.com/.