NEWS
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020
Local candidates adjust campaigns due to COVID-19
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
When a large part of
political campaigns is about
exposing yourself and your
ideas to the public, a global
pandemic isn’t the most con-
ducive environment to run
one.
With Gov. Kate Brown
ordering people to stay home
and public health offi cials
urging people to keep at least
6 feet between one another,
traditional
campaigning
methods of candidates going
door-to-door and holding
events to meet the voters is
no longer an option.
Ahead of the May pri-
maries, candidates for local
offi ce in Umatilla County are
adjusting to the new land-
scape with a stronger empha-
sis on social media and other
means of communication
while weathering the effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic
on their personal lives.
HollyJo Beers, a candi-
date for Umatilla County
commissioner from Mil-
ton-Freewater, was recently
Maier
Dorran
laid off from her job as a can-
vasser for the conservative
think tank Freedom Foun-
dation’s Washington state
branch, she said March 28.
“Well, I actually have
more time to campaign
now,” she said.
Beers said she has a pen-
sion and would be OK, but
noted the pandemic’s eco-
nomic impacts could limit
some people’s ability to con-
tribute to a local political
campaign.
Hermiston’s Dan Dor-
ran, another candidate for
Umatilla County commis-
sioner, fi nally was freed of
his 14-day self quarantine
the end of March, which
he invoked on himself after
traveling for 23 days in his
work as an operations and
sales executive.
Lopez
“These are very interest-
ing times,” he said, laughing.
Dorran maintained his
routine of completing an
early morning run each day,
but otherwise stayed inside
and kept himself isolated
even from his wife to not risk
spreading something to her.
The restrictions on large
gatherings has forced Dor-
ran to cancel his campaign
receptions and plans for
daily door-to-door meet-
ings with voters, which he’ll
potentially be supplanting
with virtual town halls and
one-hour presentations of
different formats.
Mark Gomolski, another
county commissioner can-
didate from Hermiston, said
he’s going to be calling vot-
ers, sending out emails and
trying to set up some small-
Gomolski
Beers
group video chats to connect
with the public.
Beers said some of the
county commissioner candi-
dates already participated in
a candidate forum of sorts
via a phone conference,
which she’d like to see more
of in the future.
“I thought that worked
really well,” she said. “It’s
going to be different, but
you’ve just got to get your
name out there however you
can.”
When asked, all fi ve of
the candidates for county
commissioner were open
to setting something up for
them all to speak with the
public, though it’s unclear
what exactly that would look
like at this time.
While COVID-19 already
has and will put a damper on
campaigning for the foresee-
able future, Patricia Maier, a
county commissioner candi-
date from Hermiston, is hop-
ing her strategy of getting
out to campaign early will
pay dividends.
“I’ve tried to be identifi ed
with signs,” she said. “My
car is marked, I went to city
council meetings and senior
meals in the community.”
Maier said she believes
she was the fi rst to get signs
out in the community and
that already meeting face-
to-face with the area’s senior
citizens was valuable, espe-
cially with older popula-
tions more vulnerable to
COVID-19.
But as the candidates
move forward in the time
of coronavirus, all acknowl-
edged the power of social
media in helping get expo-
sure for them and their
campaigns.
“I think Facebook is
going to play a much larger
part than even any of us were
expecting,” Dorran said.
All the county commis-
sioner candidates are either
using their own personal
Facebook page or have
established one specifi cally
for their campaign to try and
share their message across
the social media platform.
While spreading their
campaign message is import-
ant, some of the candidates
are also trying to spread
information from govern-
ment and health offi cials
about the pandemic.
“I’ve been trying to help
with people who need sup-
plies and keeping people
informed,” said Jonathan
Lopez, a county commis-
sioner candidate from Herm-
iston. “I’m not trying to do it
as a political candidate, but
just as a person who cares.”
Lopez has postponed or
canceled all campaign events
he had planned through
May; he said he doesn’t cur-
rently have plans for how to
make up for those unavail-
able opportunities to speak
with voters and fundraise.
“Everybody,
whether
we like it or not, is being
affected right now by this,”
Lopez said.
Umatilla County lags in census reporting amid COVID-19 disruption
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
Census Day has come and
passed, and Umatilla County
is lagging behind the rest of
the country in making sure
they’re represented in the
2020 U.S. Census.
“Had we not had the coro-
navirus situation going on, I
think Census Day (April 1)
would have probably been
in the news more than we’re
seeing,” said Bob Waldher,
Umatilla County planning
director and member of the
county’s Complete Count
Committee.
As of Wednesday, Wald-
her said roughly 28.5% of
Umatilla County residents
had submitted their informa-
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
The U.S. Census Bureau is relying on self reporting after
having suspended all events and door-to-door operations
until at least mid-April.
tion to the census. That trails
both Oregon, which has 38%
of its residents reporting
across the state, and the aver-
age response rate across all
50 states in the U.S., which
is currently at 36%.
The once-a-decade count
has particular importance for
Oregon, which could receive
a sixth seat in the U.S. House
of Representative in addition
to the $1.5 trillion in federal
dollars that will be distrib-
uted based on the responses.
Umatilla County is par-
ticularly behind, but the
COVID-19 pandemic has
posed signifi cant challenges
for the U.S.Census Bureau
all across the country. While
this is the fi rst time in history
that people can be counted
via telephone or internet,
the questionnaire wasn’t
rolled out until the middle
of March, just when the cri-
sis was escalating around the
U.S.
Stay home orders and
social distancing guidelines
have hamstrung efforts to
remind people about being
counted by canceling events
and plans for door-to-door
knocking. The U.S. Cen-
sus Bureau has already sus-
pended all fi eld operations
until at least mid-April and
Community hospice agency to pilot
online grief support to tri-county area
HERMISTON HERALD
Walla Walla Commu-
nity Hospice is offering
teleconferencing grief sup-
port groups to Walla Walla,
Columbia and Umatilla
counties.
Hospice offers its grief
support to every adult in its
tri-county service region
who has experienced a loss.
The individual does not
have to have been a recipient
of hospice services. At this
time, the 10-week groups
are facilitated by staff mem-
bers and guided by “Under-
standing Your Grief,” a book
by grief counselor Alan
Wolfelt.
The 10-week pilot group
begins on Tuesday, April 14
from 5:30-7 p.m. In order to
create an intimate and safe
environment, the group is
closed to new members after
the second session on April
21. To be able to partici-
pate, participants will need
a computer, laptop or tab-
let with internet connectiv-
ity. A smartphone with the
Zoom app can also be used.
Some technical support will
be offered.
All the support offer-
ings are at no cost to attend-
ees. To fi nd out more, visit
wwhospice.org/griefsup-
port or call 509-525-5561.
Because the 10-week groups
are closed to new members,
it is suggested that people
register by April 10 by call-
ing the number above or by
sending an email to info@
wwhospice.org.
delayed starting counts for
the homeless and people liv-
ing in groups, such as dorms
and nursing homes.
The deadline for self-re-
porting has also been pushed
back from the end of July to
mid-August, though Wald-
her said that’s likely to be
extended even longer. But
while coronavirus is disrupt-
ing the census, the county
is encouraging residents to
take advantage of their new
opportunities to be counted.
“Now is a good time, peo-
ple are cooped up at home so
it’s the perfect time to fi ll it
out online,” Umatilla County
Commissioner John Shafer
said.
In fact, both Shafer and
fellow Umatilla County
Commissioner Bill Elfering
said they submitted their info
online earlier this week.
“It’s a simple process for
anyone to get online and take
care of,” Elfering said.
The Umatilla County
Complete Count Committee,
which was one of the fi rst of
its kind in the U.S. when it
was formed in October 2019,
is also looking for new ways
to get the word out there
during the pandemic.
With the help of Pac/West
Communications, the com-
mittee is distributing mate-
rials about the census in
lunch bags and homework
packets that are being given
to students with all schools
switching to distance educa-
tion for the rest of the year.
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