Tuesday, the vote counting begins; local campaign finance update

The highly-anticipated Nov. 8 General Election is just days away. Ballots are due on Tuesday in Oregon’s all-mail-in (or drop-off) vote.

Turnover as of Thursday morning was 24.2 percent (18,258 out of 75,482 registered voters), according to County Clerk Keri Hinton, a rate higher than the statewide 21 percent.

On the ballot are U.S. Senate and House races, including the new U.S. House Dist. 6, contested by Democrat Andrea Salinas and Republican Mike Erickson, both Washington County residents. Republican Anna Scharf of Amity, the Oregon House Dist. 23 appointee a year ago, faces a challenge from Newberg Democrat Kriss Wright. In the Dist. 24 contest for the seat to be vacated by Ron Noble, the choice is between McMinnville residents Lucetta Elmer, a Republican, and Victoria Ernst, a Democrat.

Voters in the city of Newberg should fill out their ballots as normal, but a special election for city council districts 2, 4, and 6 is scheduled for December, due to an error in ballot printing discovered after ballots had been mailed last month. Ballots should start arriving in affected voters’ mailboxes around Dec. 3, according to Hinton. The special election will be limited to the candidates currently qualified for the ballot. No other candidates may file for those offices.

Ballots must be placed in a ballot box by 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, or postmarked by that time and date. Hinton urged voters yet to cast ballots to do so at a drop-off site, adding that anyone mailing their ballot is advised to have it hand-stamped at the post office, to ensure it arrives in time to be counted.

Drop-off locations include Amity library and city hall buildings in Carlton, Dayton, Dundee. Lafayette, Sheridan, Willamina and Yamhill.

In McMinnville, find boxes at the clerk’s office at Fourth and Evans, county courthouse east parking lot, the library, and Chemeketa Community College. In Newberg, locations are Jaquith Park West, Public Service Building, and the Portland Community College Center.

Voters are reminded to seal their ballot inside the return envelope, and sign the envelope. Signatures are carefully matched to the signatures on file in the clerk’s office, meaning any discrepancy potentially could disqualify the enclosed ballot from being tabulated. Once signatures are verified, ballots are separated from the envelope and sent for tabulation in a multi-step process monitored at each point by two trained elections workers or volunteers. Ballots are processed and tabulated under secure supervision in cyber-proof rooms in the county courthouse.

News-Register has been providing readers with profiles and questionnaires from local, state and national candidates throughout the General Election run-up. Below is a compilation of the main donors to some of those campaigns.

The News-Register will provide online coverage of the election. Visit newsregister.com for articles and links to state and national results.

Update on campaign finances in local races

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Due to a typographic error, the "in-kind contribution" total for legislative candidate Lucetta Elmer was reported in the print newspaper as $421,470 rather than the $21,470 shown below. We regret the error.

The News-Register staff

The following is a compilation of campaign contributions and expenditures for candidates in local races. The data is current as of Thursday at noon. Campaign finance transactions are recorded online at sos.oregon.gov/elections/pages/orestar.aspx.

Oregon House District 24

Lucetta Elmer - Republican

Cash Contributions: $206,307

In-Kind Contributions: $21,470

Total Expenditures: $188,599.12

Top 5 Donors:

Evergreen Oregon PAC — $65,144; Political Action Committee supporting by State House Republican candidates.

Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee — $15,000.

Orloggers PAC — $12,500.

Oregon Business & Industry Candidate PAC — $12,000.

Friends of David Brock Smith — $10,000; Candidate committee for the state representative from District 1.

Victoria Ernst - Democrat, Independent, Working Families

Cash Contributions: $43,589.37

In-Kind Contributions: $24,482

Total Expenditures: $68,518.68

Top Donors:

Randy Ernst — $10,677.24; The candidate’s father. Includes $4,250 of cash contributions, and the rest are in-kind.

Future PAC, House Builders — $3,000; Political Action Committee supporting by State House Democrat candidates.

Trish Banning — $2,873; Real Estate agent and co-owner of Banning’s Restaurant in Tigard. Originally from St. Paul. Includes $750 in-kind contributions, and the rest are cash.

Ernst Family Farms — $2,700; The candidate’s family farm located in St. Paul.

Women’s Investment Network Political Action Committee — $2,500; Political Action Committee supporting pro-choice Democratic women running for the Oregon Legislature.

Yamhill County Commissioner

Kit Johnston

Cash Contributions: $58,450

In-Kind Contributions: $2,333.38

Total Expenditures: $76,207

Top 5 Donors:

Kit Johnston — $20,000.

Stimpson Lumber — $10,000; Large timber company owned by Andrew Miller of Portland.

Creekside Valley Farms LLC — $5,500; Owned by farmer Paul Kuehne of Lafayette.

KCK Farms LLC — $4,500; A Dayton wholesale nursery owned by Kevin Coleman of Dayton.

Western Rock Resources LLC — $4,000; Provides rock, gravel and sand for Columbia, Marion, Washington and Yamhill Counties.

Beth Wytoski

Cash Contributions: $60,238.61

In-Kind Contributions: $11,001

Total Expenditures: $58,534.16

Top Donors:

Stoller Family Estate $6,500 — owned by winery owner Bill Stoller, previously of Dayton.

Springboard Group — $5,000. The Springboard Group is a Newberg-based entity identified by the IRS as a “social welfare organization.” Its mission statement says it works “to promote & further the economic vitality & quality of life in Oregon, primarily in Yamhill county ... through civic and political engagement in support of community needs.”

Nick for Oregon — $5,000. This is the now-discontinued Political Action Committee of Nick Kristoff, New York Times columnist and former gubernatorial candidate.

Megan Salsbury — $4,530.38.

Wine Country Linen Rentals— $1,600; in-kind contributions.

Yamhill County Clerk

Cory Fribley

Cash Contributions: $0

In-Kind Contributions: $770

Total Expenditures: $770

Top Donor:

Cory Fribley — $770, in-kind contribution.

Keri Hinton

Cash Contributions: $5,585

In-Kind Contributions: $200

Total Expenditures: $3,373.19

Top Donors:

Friends of Mary Starrett — $2,000; Current Yamhill County commissioner.

Yamhill County Republican Party — $1,000.

Lindsay Berschauer — $700; Current Yamhill County commissioner.

Chehalem Construction — $500; Newberg company owned by Jeffrey Berry.

McMinnville City Council — Ward 1

Zack Geary

Cash Contributions: $6,060

In-Kind Contributions: $0

Total Expenditures: $4,191.76

Top Donors:

Zack Stern — $2,500.

Steve Rupp — $1,000.

Patty O’Leary — $900.

Mike Geary — $750.

(Geary’s campaign finances do not appear publicly on the state’s campaign finance website. However, he provided a screen shot showing his campaign transactions from his candidate entry page on ORESTAR.)

George Humlie

Cash Contributions: $5,5439

In-Kind Contributions: $0

Total Expenditures: $1,894.02

Top Donors:

Yamhill County Republican Party — $500

CS Property Holdings LLC — $500; McMinnville company owned by Dennis and Lucetta Elmer and Gerald and Deborah Moen.

Nancy Emrick — $500

Craig Pubols — $500

Caralee Johnston — $500