NEWS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
Voting data shows east-west divide in commissioner race
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
Dan Dorran and Hol-
lyJo Beers have had a month
to evaluate how Umatilla
County voted in the May
19 primary, sending the
two of them into a runoff
for the only opening on the
three-person board of com-
missioners in November.
While neither were nec-
essarily surprised by how the
voting broke down through-
out the county, both are pre-
paring for a November gen-
eral election that is primed
for a dramatic increase in
voter turnout.
“Looking at the total
number of people who
voted, I’m not sure any of
us really drove people to the
ballot box,” Dorran said of
the May 19 primary.
Dorran, a Hermiston res-
ident and longtime mem-
ber of the Umatilla County
Fair Board, fi nished fi rst in
May after receiving 5,585
total votes, which amounted
to about 34% of the 16,505
votes cast in the county.
HollyJo Beers, a Mil-
ton-Freewater
resident
and leader of the Umatilla
County Three Percenters,
Dan Dorran
HollyJo Beers
came in second with 4,025
votes, which was just over
24% of the vote.
However,
Umatilla
County’s voter turnout of
less than 37% in May is des-
tined to increase in Novem-
ber when Americans as a
whole are statistically more
likely to submit a ballot
with the White House up
for grabs. In 2016, for ref-
erence, Umatilla County’s
voter turnout increased from
around 45% and 15,000 total
votes cast in the primaries to
70% and around 28,000 total
votes cast.
While the demograph-
ics will undoubtedly change
in November, an analysis of
May 19 voting data from the
county’s 46 precincts, which
group voters according to
their place of residence,
shows an east-west divide
among Umatilla County
voters.
Dorran received roughly
42.5% of votes cast in com-
munities west of Pendleton
compared to Beers’ total of
about 17%. And that differ-
ence showed up most glar-
ingly inside and outside of
Hermiston, where Dorran
received more than 1,400
more votes than Beers and
won nearly 40% of the vote
to Beers’ 15%.
“I really thought they
would split the vote over
there more than they did,”
Beers said, adding that
Dorran and the other pri-
mary challengers all live in
Hermiston and how she’ll
be focusing her efforts there
moving forward. “Dan’s
been over there an awfully
long time, but I do want to
go over there and give them
a choice.”
Though he already seems
to have the support of many
Hermiston voters, Dorran
said his campaign wants to
reach more of its residents
who didn’t cast a ballot at
all in May and will stress
the importance of keeping a
voice from the county’s west
side on the board.
“As you put down your
priorities, I think we want
to make sure the folks in
Hermiston understand that
Raíces applauds DACA decision
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
A Supreme Court deci-
sion blocking President
Donald Trump’s attempt
to end the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals was
met with approval by a local
grassroots organization.
The program, which pro-
tects undocumented immi-
grants from deportation if
they were brought to the
United States as a child and
meet certain requirements,
was set up in 2012 by Presi-
dent Barack Obama.
Roy Gomez, a board
member for the Hermiston
organization Raíces, said
the ruling gave him hope
for better opportunities for
those protected by the pro-
gram, known as “Dream-
ers,” in the future.
“It’s defi nitely a small
victory for us,” he said. “It’s
a battle we won that will
keep the momentum for us,
but there is still a lot of work
to be done for Dreamers.”
Raíces’ stated mission
is “creating a space for
our community’s voice by
empowering Latinx leaders
through unity, education and
connections.”
The group focuses on
encouraging civic engage-
ment, and offers initiatives,
such as a DACA scholar-
ship that covers the appli-
cations fees for commu-
nity members reapplying
for their DACA status every
two years.
Gomez pointed out the
“rigorous”
requirements
for young people who were
brought to the United States
as a child to qualify for
the reprieve from depor-
tation, including a high
school diploma and no fel-
ony record. He also said
that many DACA recipients
in the Hermiston area fi ll
essential jobs.
“These are good people
we’re advocating for, people
we want in our community,”
he said.
Oregon Sens. Jeff Merk-
ley and Ron Wyden released
statements after the rul-
ing urging the Republican
majority to allow the Sen-
ate to vote on legislation that
would give a path to per-
manent resident status for
DACA recipients.
Filing for Hermiston City
Council positions is open
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Interested candidates for
the Hermiston City Council
can fi le to run for an at-large
seat until Aug. 25 at 5 p.m.
Hermiston has four
“ward” seats on the council
that represent a specifi c area
of the city, and four at-large
seats that can come from
anywhere in the city. All
four of the at large positions
are up for election Nov. 3.
Everyone who fi les will
be listed on the ballot, and
the top four vote-getters will
begin a four-year term on
the council on Jan. 1.
The at-large seats are cur-
rently held by Manuel Guti-
errez, Rod Hardin, Doug
Primmer and David McCar-
thy. McCarthy was sworn in
June 8 after being appointed
to fi ll John Kirwan’s seat after
Kirwan resigned. Although
no one has turned in fi ling
paperwork, yet, McCarthy
told councilors when he was
appointed that he plans to run
to keep the seat beyond the
rest of the year.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann and Municipal Judge
Thomas Creasing will not
appear on the November bal-
lot after running unopposed
and winning their seats
during the May primary.
Election information and
applications to fi le for can-
didacy can be found online
at hermiston.or.us/city-re-
corder/city-hermiston-elec-
tions or at city hall. For
more information, contact
City Recorder Lilly Alar-
con-Strong at 541-667-5004
or lalarcon-strong@hermis-
ton.or.us.
Alarcon-Strong can also
be contacted about infor-
mation and applications
for city committees. Cur-
rent positions open include
seats on the planning com-
mission, faith based advi-
sory committee and budget
committee.
685 W. Hermiston Ave.
Hermiston, Oregon
(541) 567-6474
www.burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
The Board of Directors
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo Committee
PO Box 13, Joseph, OR 97846.
Thank you.
HERMISTON HERALD
Sen.
Ron
Wyden,
D-Ore., will hold a live,
online town hall meeting
for residents of Umatilla,
Morrow, Union and Wal-
lowa counties on Thursday,
June 25 at 2 p.m.
The town hall will be
live streamed on the Town
Hall Project Facebook
page. Anyone wishing to
ask a question can fi ll out
the form provided on the
Facebook page. Contact
info@townhallproject.com
for more information.
Wyden said in a news
release that he will be par-
gonians in every part of our
state can ask me questions,
voice their views and share
their priorities about all the
challenges facing our state
and country,” he said in a
statement.
Nathan Williams, exec-
utive director of Town Hall
Project, said the organiza-
tion was founded on the
idea that in-person town
halls are an essential part of
democracy, but during the
pandemic they “strongly
encourage all lawmak-
ers to prioritize the health
of their constituents and to
suspend indoor in-person
gatherings.”
ticipating
from Wash-
ington,
D.C., but
expects the
conversa-
tion to be as
Wyden
“robust” as
past in-per-
son town halls. This week’s
town hall will be the fi fth in
a series of six regional, vir-
tual town halls he is hold-
ing during the pandemic in
partnership with Town Hall
Project.
“Hearing directly from
Oregonians is always a top
priority and that conversa-
tion must continue so Ore-
TODAY. TOMORROW.
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continuing to educate and
familiarize himself with the
county and its communities
by attending public meet-
ings throughout the area.
Beers, on the other
hand, has been active by
speaking at the “Hermis-
ton Freedom Rally” at the
end of May and said she’s
working with those orga-
nizers to plan an event to
support law enforcement
in response to the Black
Lives Matter protest move-
ment. She’s also held sig-
nature-signing events for
the latest initiative to recall
Gov. Kate Brown and said
she’s hoping to hold more
in-person events and go
knocking door to door to
meet voters.
Roughly 1,500 votes
and 10% of the total bal-
lots cast separated Dorran
and Beers in the primary.
But with the fi eld whittled
down to two, which leaves
the nearly 7,000 votes cast
between the three other
primary candidates up for
grabs, and the voter turnout
expected to increase thanks
to the presidential election,
both are gearing up for a
competitive race through
the summer and into fall.
23% for Dorran, while she
got 40.5% of the vote in
Pilot Rock to Dorran’s 24%.
Voters were mostly split
between the two candidates
in Pendleton, which cast
the most ballots of any sin-
gle city in the county and
where Dorran ultimately
won with 30% of the vote
to 27% for Beers. The city’s
individual precincts were
closely contested, with Dor-
ran winning six and Beers
four. The difference, ulti-
mately, amounted to less
than 150 votes between the
two candidates.
“We need to get on the
streets of Pendleton and
answer the questions door to
door and face to face,” Dor-
ran said. “The follow-ups
that we have had from folks
are, ‘Hey, we just don’t
know you, Dan.’”
Dorran plans in-person
events like town halls begin-
ning in Hermiston sometime
in July, he said, and will also
be holding events through-
out the summer in Helix,
Pendleton, Pilot Rock and
Milton-Freewater.
Otherwise, he’s primarily
been planning out the logis-
tics for the next stretch of
the campaign and said he’s
Serving Families with
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If you have already purchased rodeo tickets, and you
I am a west-end candidate,”
he said.
Outgoing Commissioner
Bill Elfering is a Hermis-
ton resident, while Com-
missioner George Murdock
lives in Pendleton and Com-
missioner John Shafer is the
former mayor of Athena.
Beers added that she spe-
cifi cally is hoping to reach
out to the county’s Latino
and Hispanic voters, many
of whom live in Hermiston.
“I think that they’re a vital
part of Umatilla County,”
she said. “I really need to
touch base with them and let
them know what I’m about,
and fi nd out their needs
and what they’d like to see
happen.”
In a much tighter compe-
tition, Beers edged Dorran
by just about 1.5% in Pend-
leton and communities on
the east side of the county,
with 2,908 votes to Dorran’s
2,744.
Precinct data shows that
Beers’ advantage mostly
showed through in Mil-
ton-Freewater, where she
lives now, and Pilot Rock,
where she grew up. Beers
fi nished with about 31.5%
of the vote in Milton-Free-
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