Use Ballot Drop Boxes to Deposit Your Vote…
As of Friday afternoon eight out of ten Lane County voters hadn’t returned their primary ballots. It’s likely that by the time the final ballots are picked up tomorrow at eight pm, only another one in ten will have weighed in. Just over 40-thousand of an estimated 200-thousand registered voters have returned their ballots with today and tomorrow expected to see the heaviest returns so far.
Voters in Lane County are facing a mixed bag of candidates and issues… Sheriff Tom Turner is up for reelection, but since he’s running unopposed his name won’t even appear on the ballot until November. District Attorney Alex Gardner is also seeking reelection, but since his office is regulated by the state, he’s on there. Two Lane County Commission seats are being contested… but those will be decided by voters in north and south Eugene.
Locally, Western Lane Ambulance District is seeking voter approval on a five year, $4.3-million operating levy. Ballot collection boxes, including the one in front of the Florence Justice Center, will be open until eight PM tomorrow evening.
Oregon Attorney General Race
Democrats are likely to select Oregon’s next Attorney General. John Kroger is not seeking reelection and there is no candidate on the Republican Primary ballot for the post. But, two Democrats are seeking that party’s nomination. Both are strikingly similar in most, if not all of their stated views.
Ellen Rosenblum is a retired Appeals Court Judge and federal prosecutor from Multnomah County.
Dwight Holton is the former U.S. Attorney for Oregon. He was in town late last week, making a final campaign sweep down the coast and referred to the similarities, along with an issue that has arisen over medical marijuana.
Dwight Holton – “The truth is that my opponent and I have pretty similar positions on medical marijuana. We passed that law for very compassionate reasons to get help to people that are in desperate need, and I’ll support and defend that law. There are folks who have spent thousands of dollars attacking me and misrepresenting my record on this.”
Holton took an aggressive stance against Oregon’s medical marijuana as U.S. Attorney, but says he’s only interested in going after abusers of the law.
Rhody Royalty Part I
It’s Rhody week… and that means a lot of things… carnival, parades, motorcycles, antique cars and princesses. Four area high school seniors will compete Friday evening during the Queen’s Coronation Pageant. Three of them are from Siuslaw, one is from Mapleton High School, Lindsey Free. She says she saw it as a great opportunity that fit with her career goal.
Lindsey Free – “I just thought it would be a great way to practice public speaking and everything because I do want to go into broadcast journalism after college.”
Princess Lindsey is the class Valedictorian, she spent a short time in the Czech Republic as an exchange student and has been on the honor roll every year since 2008. We’ll take a little closer look at the other three princesses, Samantha Rodriquez, Marisha Reavis and Angelina Perez as we go through the week.