By SHAYLA ESCUDERO and QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle
Former sheriff Curtis Landers has defeated appointed incumbent Walter Chuck in their two-man race for Position 3 on the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, according to the fourth release of votes Tuesday night and declared victory.
The final, unofficial results by the county clerk’s office will not be released until June 9.
LandersLanders took a slim 200-vote lead Tuesday, increased that by 100 votes Wednesday, by another 65 votes again Friday and then won by a 364-vote margin Tuesday night — 8,166 (51 percent) to 7,802 (48.7 percent).
Because there were two candidates in the primary, the winner is elected to the commission seat with more than 50 percent of the vote and takes office in January.
Tuesday’s vote update represented a countywide turnout of 46.7 percent and with 98 percent of the returned ballots counted, according to the clerk’s office.
Due to the death of Commissioner Claire Hall in January, it is the first time in county history that all three positions on the Board of Commissioners were up for election at one time.
The top two finishers in the Position 1 and Position 2 races will face off in the November general election because no one got a majority of votes – and nothing changed with Tuesday’s numbers
RigbyCathie Rigby of Newport finished first in the six-candidate race for commission Position 1 with 5,101 votes (30.8 percent) and will square off in November against embattled first-term Commissioner Casey Miller of Newport, whose vote total was 4,056 (24.5 percent).
Cheri Brubaker of Waldport, a field representative for Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., was third with 3,381 votes (20.4 percent). Carter McEntee of Newport had 2,300 votes followed by Nicholle Moody of Depoe Bay with 1,167 and Dru Earls of Lincoln City with 518.
The biggest surprise in the primary may have been the performance of Joe Steere of Siletz, who finished second in the four-person race for Position 2 to fill the two remaining years of Hall’s term.
DonFormer Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife employee Cristen Don of South Beach won handily with 7,197 votes (44.1 percent) but did not have a majority to win the primary race outright.
Steere was second with 3,651 votes (22.2 percent) – more than 600 votes ahead of Lincoln City councilor Marci Baker, who had 3,013 votes (18.3 percent). Eddie Townsend of Newport was fourth with 2,523 votes.
It is unclear what the results so far of the primary races will mean for the appointment of an interim commissioner to fill Hall’s position and have a third commissioner until January. Miller and Chuck can’t agree on who to appoint – the finalists are Don and Baker – or if they should solicit more candidates who are not seeking election.
Miller said last week that if there was a clear winner with over 50 percent of votes for Position 2, he hopes that person could be appointed to fill the vacancy until they are officially sworn in to serve a term. That did not happen.
Other issues on the Lincoln County ballot and updated results Friday night were:
- Yachats Rural Fire Protection District: Voters approved the renewal of a five-year $1.59 operating levy 884-302. The levy was first approved in 2022.
- Seal Rock Fire District: Voters approved a request to increase a five-year firefighter levy by 12 cents to 52 cents 813 to 568.
- North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District: Voters passed the district’s request to renew a five-year $1.22 per $1,000 operations levy 3,578 to 938.
- City of Toledo: Voters approved 581 to 258 five administrative changes to the city’s charter.
- Makai Road District: Voters in the road district that services the Makai subdivision north of Seal Rock passed 86 to 61 a new 85 cent per $1,000 levy to deal with a backlog of maintenance issues.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
What a predictable mess. How in the world isn’t the the top vote receiver not the automatic interim commissioner in the empty seat? We need three commissioners and do we think Chuck and MIller are going to suddenly agree on anything?
Agree, wholeheartedly. Common sense would be useful here.
How? Because that’s the law.
Hence my question. However, putting Landers in the open position until the election is a sensible suggestion. I hope it’s doable.
If permitted under state/local law, Commissioners Chuck and Miller should consider appointing Landers to fill the vacancy for Position 2 through the end of this year, at which point the winner for Position 2 in the general election would take office for that position. Landers would then move into Position 3 at the start of next year.
This would allow Landers to become more familiar with the role of commissioner and provide some continuity moving into next year, at which point he could be serving with not just one new commissioner (Position 2), but potentially two new commissioners depending on whether Miller or Rigby wins the general election for Position 1.
I agree Landers would be the logical choice to replace Hall and then return to Position 3 in January. But I haven’t seen anything logical with commission in the last several months.
Agreed. A modicum of experience with Commission protocols would be realized with Landers’ appointment. Also, the intransigence of the current Commissioners will hopefully be so odious to Landers that he will feel strongly inclined toward collaboration, once the eventual winners are seated with him. That’s two positive reasons to bring him on board ASAP.