BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022 A5 LOCAL & STATE Books Election If the latter happens, the 50% threshold will not be Continued from Page A1 in effect — whichever can- didate gets the most votes such a close race, neither will be elected to a four- has quite reached that 50% year term. plus one threshold needed to Witham said on Wednes- avoid a runoff in November. day morning that she didn’t It’s not mathematically im- expect her race against Jus- possible that one candidate tus would end up potentially will get there before County extending into the fall. Clerk Stefanie Kirby certifies “We’ll just have to wait results in June. and see,” she said. There are two sources of ballots that have yet to County Commission be counted. chairman The first group are bal- The situation is much lots that were postmarked more straightforward in the by May 17 but didn’t arrive three-way race for position at the clerk’s office by elec- 3, the full-time commission tion day. This is the first Or- chairman. egon election in which those If any candidate received postmarked ballots will be more than 50% of the votes, counted if they’re received he would have been elected. at the county clerk’s office That almost certainly won’t within seven calendar days. happen, but two candidates Kirby said May 26 is the — Dan Garrick and Shane earliest she would be able to Alderson — were well in release updated vote totals in front of the third candidate, the Justus-Witham race. Joe Johnson. The second group, total- Garrick and Alderson, as ing 39 ballots, are those that the top two candidates, will either lacked a signature or advance to the November had a signature that didn’t election. match the one the clerk’s of- As of Wednesday morn- fice had on file. ing, Garrick had 1,887 The county will notify all 39 votes, or 41.2% of the total of those voters, and they have votes cast. until June 7 to respond and Alderson was in second, validate their ballots, at which with 1,439 votes, or 31.4%. time they would be counted. Johnson was in third, with The bottom line, then, is 1,214 votes, or 26.5%. that Witham and Justus — along with the rest of the Baker Rural Fire Protection county’s electorate — might District not know until early June In other local results, the whether one of the two will Baker Rural Fire Protection win outright, or whether District’s five-year tax levy they will return to the ballot is failing, with 359 no votes and 326 yes votes. in November. Continued from Page A1 This opportunity is returning for the 2022-2023 school year, said Jessica Dougherty, coordinator for the BCCLC. The literacy program serves children in nine schools — prior to the pan- demic, an average of 35 adults read with more than 100 children each week to help them improve reading skills. Volunteer readers dedicate 30 to 60 minutes, once per week, at a local pub- lic school — either in small groups or one-on-one. Anyone interested in volunteering as a reader can contact Dougherty by email at momreading4fun@gmail.com or by calling 808-640-5900. Book giveaways In addition to reading with children, the REAL program distributes about 3,000 free books to students every school year. Schools and programs that receive books are: Baker Early Learning Center, Brooklyn Primary, South Baker Inter- mediate, Haines Elementary, Keating Elementary, the special education pro- gram, Burnt River School, Pine Eagle School, Headstart, YMCA preschool and day care, Building Healthy Families and Baker Relief Nursery. In addition, Dougherty hands out books during two special drive-thru family nights at BELC. Support The BCCLC is a nonprofit organiza- tion established in 2002 to promote liter- acy in Baker County. It is supported by private foundations, businesses, service clubs, private donors and grants. Monetary donations can be mailed to the Literacy Program, c/o Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St., Baker City, OR 97814. Alderson 2830 10th St. Baker City, Oregon Baker City office hours: Mon-Thurs 8am-5pm Clinic hours: Tuesday 8am-5pm Thursday 8am-12pm Brian Sanders, DPM Accepting most insurances 541-524-0122 Clinic offices: in Ontario (every other Monday) in La Grande (every Wednesday) Justus Witham Baker County election results U.S. Senator, Democrat • Ron Wyden, 785 • William E. Barlow III, 96 • Brent Thompson, 76 U.S. Representative, 2nd District, Democrat • Joe Yetter, 549 • Adam Prine, 207 U.S. Representative, 2nd District, Republican • Cliff Bentz, 2,503 • Mark Cavener, 599 Governor, Democrat • Tobias Read, 382 • Tina Kotek, 352 Governor, Republican • Kerry McQuisten, 1,395 • Bob Tiernan, 454 • Christine Drazen, 395 • Marc Thielman, 269 • Bud Pierce, 212 • Stan Pulliam, 199 • Bridget Barton, 119 • Katherine M. Gallant, 144 U.S. Senator, Republican • Darin Harbick, 823 • Sam Palmer, 769 • Jo Rae Perkins, 695 • Jason Beebe, 443 • Christopher C. Christensen, 172 Collin Kaseberg, president of the fire district’s board of directors, said the district will have to try again to per- suade voters to approve the levy, which would increase property taxes for residents within the district by $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value of five years. The levy would raise an estimated $182,000 the first year. Kaseberg said the district, since it was formed in 1983, has relied almost solely on a permanent property tax levy of 67 cents per $1,000 of as- sessed value. He thanked voters who supported the levy, and urged those who didn’t to talk to a district board mem- ber about the levy. Other races In the race for the Repub- lican nominee for governor, Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten was fifth among 19 candidates, with 22,664 votes. Christine Drazan was in the lead with 60,733 votes, while Bob Tiernan was in second with 47,756, and Stan Pulliam in third with 25,825 votes. Bridget Barton was fourth with 24,532. McQuisten easily won her home county, with 1,395 votes, well ahead of Tiernan, with 454 votes. Voter turnout in Baker County was 41.6%. That compares with 50% in the May 2020 primary, and 45% in May 2018. Statewide voter turnout for this primary was 31.8%. Rachel Pregnancy Center Providing quality and compassion to all his patients Dr. Sanders specializes in all aspects of the foot and ankle. Anything from foot & ankle pain to diabetic foot care and limb salvage, injuries, surgery, skin or toenail conditions, sports medicine, he covers it all! 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