Clerk certifies official election results

The Yamhill County Clerk has posted official general election results along with reports of how local precincts voted.

On Monday, the Clerk’s Office completed a hand count of randomly selected contests and approved the results after finding an error on one ballot.

The hand count was a directive of the Secretary of State to “maintain uniformity” of Oregon elections. An election board reviewed randomly selected contests of President, Judge of the Supreme Court and Measure 115. Clerk Keri Hinton certified the hand count results as accurate and acceptable.

The one error happened because a write-in box was not filled in and the tally machine counted the ballot as an under vote instead of a write-in, Hinton said.

If the difference between the certified results and hand count results differed by more than one half of 1% of the total votes cast for the contest, the results would be deemed “not acceptable” and a second hand count would be held. If a second hand count is also deemed “not acceptable,” a county-wide hand count of all ballots for all contests is required by Oregon law.

In state and federal races, Yamhill County voted Republican across the board. County results were:

- U.S. President – Donald Trump, 29,536 (51.1%); Kamala Harris, 26,011 (45%); Robert Kennedy, 1,113 (1.93%).

- U.S. Representative, 6th District – Mike Erickson, 30,438 (54.38%); Andrea Salinas, 25,466 (45.49%). Salinas won the district with 53.34% of the vote.

- Oregon Secretary of State – Dennis Linthicum, 28,842 (51.96%); Tobias Read, 24,957 (44.96%); Nathalie Paravicini, 1,671 (3.01%). Read won the statewide race with 54.45% of the vote.

- Oregon Treasurer – Brian Boquist, 29,641 (53.64%); Elizabeth Steiner, 21,773 (39.04%); Mary King, 2,797 (6.87%). Steiner won statewide with 49.36% of the vote.

- Attorney General – Will Lathrop, 30,964 (56.21%); Dan Rayfield, 24,085 (43.72%). Rayfield won statewide with 53.37% of the vote.

- State Senator 12th District – Bruce Starr, 28,852 (53.39%); Scott Hooper, 19,066 (35.28%); Andrea Kennedy-Smith, 6,091 (11.27%). Starr won the district with 55.60% of the vote.

- State Representative 23rd District – Anna Scharf, 12,000 (58.05%); Kriss Wright, 8,652 (41.85%). Scharf retained her seat with 62.05% of the vote.

- State Representative 24th District – Lucetta Elmer, 19,595 (59.05%); Lisa Pool, 13,538 (40.80%). Elmer retained her seat in the district, which is primary Yamhill County, with 59.62% of the vote.

- State Representative 26th District – Jason Fields, 470 (56.29%); Courtney Neron 364, (43.59%). Neron retained her seat in the district that includes part of northeast Yamhill County with 56.1%.

The final tally of in County Commissioner race was 27,602 (51.13%) for Bubba King and 26,304 (48.73%) for incumbent Lindsay Berschauer. There were 76 write-in votes and 4,316 undervotes (ballots turned in without a vote in that race).

King was heavily favored in the McMinnville precincts with 9,850 votes (61.07%) to Berschauer’s 6,280 (38.93%). King also won the Newberg city vote with a margin of 6,236 (52.22%) to 5,705 (47.78%). Berschauer earned more votes in each of the other 19 precincts, with her strongest showing in Yamhill and rural Yamhill, 1,871 (61.59%) to 1,167 (38.41%).

Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliot and Treasurer Paulette Alexander won uncontested races.

In the McMinnville mayor race, challenger Kim Morris beat incumbent Remy Drabkin by a margin of 8,653 (54.75%) to 7,099 (44.92%). There were 53 write-in votes and 1,513 undervotes.

Morris won all six precincts in the city.

Scott Cunningham won the open city council seat in Ward 3 against Chaz Gibbons, finishing with 2,419 (57.21%) votes to Gibbons’ 1,786 (42.24%).

Incumbent Chris Chenoweth in Ward 1 and council newcomer Dan Tucholsky in Ward 2 won uncontested races.

In Newberg, Councilor Elise Yarnell Hollamon retained her District 1 seat with 5,978 (54.59%) votes to challenger Britta Mansfield’s 4,943 (45.14%), as did Councilor Mike McBride in District 5, beating challenger Tyson Butler 6,296 (57.56%) to 4,624 (42.27%). But in District 3, Jeri Turgesen eked out a victory against incumbent Glenn Cloyd, 5,452 (50.39%) to 5,341 (49.36%).

Without any candidates filed, two council positions in Amity were decided by write-in votes. Chat Luker was voted into Position 1 with 10 votes and Renne Gaukroger earned the most votes for Position 5 with seven. Melissa Bojorquez won Position 3 uncontested, as did Mayor Rachel King to retain the seat.

Other council and mayor race results are:

- Carlton City Council (three at large) – Kevin Skipper, 864 (32.53%); Susan Turrell, 695 (26.17%); Grant Erickson, 530 (19.95%); Guilherme Brandao, 519 (19.54%).

Mayor Linda Watkins won unopposed.

- Dundee City Council (three at large) – Tim Weaver, 969 (25.21%); Michael Caruso, 806 (20.97%); Alex Chiper, 763 (19.85%); Randall Glahn, 701 (18.24%); Robert Daykin, 563 (14.65%).

Mayor David Ford won unopposed.

- Dayton City Council (three at large) - Drew Hildebrandt, 758 (32.12%); Robin Pederson, 532 (22.54%); Kitty Mackin, 529 (22.42%); Colt Wilkins, 509 (21.57%).

n Lafayette City Council (four year term, three at large) – Kayla Paulsen, 1,117 (27.91%); Tom Reed, 1,027 (25.66%); Jessica Kitt, 970 (24.24%); Sheila Neuman, 799 (19.97%).

Mayor Hilary Malcomson won unopposed, as did councilors Russell Burrows and Lee Gilgan, running without competition for two-year unexpired terms.

- Sheridan City Council (three at large) – James Buckles, 980 (23.29%); Dennis McElroy, 679 (16.14%); Peter Flynn, 603 (14.33%); Christina Avila, 581 (13.81%); Nicole Mirabito, 560 (13.31%); Roxie Acuff, 528 (12.55%); Sean Lewis, 192 (14.33%).

- Willamina City Council (three at large) – Jennifer Eckels, 318 (26.26%); Barry Wilson, 271 (22.38%); Craig Johnson, 250 (20.64%); Rita Baller, 225 (18.58%); Jace Maroney, 132 (10.9%).

Recently-appointed Mayor Vickie Hernandez won unopposed.

- In the race for Mayor of Yamhill, current city councilor Shae Corrigan won with 309 votes (44.33%) to succeed Mayor Yvette Potter on Jan. 1, beating former mayor Chuck Mitchell, 282 (40.46%) and Brian Denman, 99 (14.2%).

- Yamhill City Council (two at large) – Chris Featherston, 367 (38.47%); Tim Askey, 288 (30.19%); Patty Pairan, 278 (29.14%).

Voters in both Amity and Sheridan passed measures to prohibit psilocybin-related businesses within city limits. Amity voted 463 (59.66%) to 313 (40.34%) and Sheridan 1,126 (56.13%) to 880 (43.87%) for the bans.

Amity voters also approved a measure to impose a 3% tax on the sale of marijuana items within city limits, 460 (58.82%) to 322 (41.18%).

Yamhill County voters disproved of a bond for Chemeketa Community College with 20,631 no votes (59.75%). The bond failed overall with 56.69% of the district vote against the proposal.

In statewide measures, Yamhill County results were:

- Measure 115, authorizing impeachment of statewide elected officials by Oregon Legislature: Yamhill County, Yes, 30,578 (56.61%), No, 23,433 (43.39%); Statewide, Yes, 64.20%, No, 35.80%.

- Measure 116, Establishes an independent public service compensations committee: Yamhill County, No, 30,932 (57.78%), Yes, 22,605 (42.22%); Statewide, No, 52.46%, Yes, 47.54%.

- Measure 117, ranked choice voting: Yamhill County, No, 35,439 (64.82%), Yes, 19,235 (35.18%); Statewide, No, 57.7%, Yes, 42.3%.

- Measure 118, increase corporate minimum taxes to distribute to eligible individuals: Yamhill County, No, 44,429 (80.89%), Yes, 10,499 (19.11%); Statewide, No, 77.47%, Yes, 22.53%.

- Measure 119, cannabis labor organizations: Yamhill County, No, 27,773 (52.12%), Yes, 25,518 (47.88%); Statewide, Yes, 56.74%, No, 43.26%.