Hinton wins race for County Clerk

County Clerk Keri Hinton, who was appointed in June, to replace former clerk Brian Van Bergen, has won her race against political newcomer Cory Fribley, with 76.75% of the vote, to Fribley’s 23.25%, a count of 19,180 votes to 5,810.

Neither has previously held elected office.

Despite having a year of experience as Chief Deputy Clerk, Hinton had a rocky start with her first solo election. She will have to hold a special election for the Newberg city council race, after she misunderstood how the city conducts its council race, and she was the last clerk in the state to release initial ballot results. Normally, early results are released at or immediately after 8 p.m.; Hinton did not release her initial count until 9:33 p.m.

Ballot counting will continue for the next week, as ballots mailed up until election day arrive, and ballots deposited in other counties are collected. Although election night typically includes at least two releases, Hinton announced on Tuesday that she would have only one, with additional releases to follow on Wednesday.