A voter drops off a ballots at the collection box at the Ashland Public Library in this May 2023 file photo. Jackson County elections staff will collect ballots from the seven official boxes at least once a day. 

Jackson County voter turnout in the May primary has surpassed the voter participation rate in the 2022 primary, with more postmarked ballots coming in.

The Jackson County Elections Office on West Main Street collected and counted 56,906 ballots on election night out of a pool of 161,461 registered voters. That puts voter participation in the May 21 primary at 35.24%, according to the latest preliminary reports issued by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

The number is a 13.74 point increase from Monday, when Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker reported a voter participation rate of 21.5% the day before the election. The number is also 2.54 percentage points higher than the May 17, 2022, primary, according to historical data from the county elections office. In that election, there were 51,617 ballots cast out of a pool of 157,865 registered voters. 

The local results are also 3.48 percentage points ahead of the statewide voter participation rate of 31.76%. Throughout the state, elections officials counted 956,325 ballots out of a pool of 3,011,563 registered.

The turnout number in this year’s primary will likely grow, as the election office has until May 28 to accept mailed ballots with a May 21 or earlier postmark. Voters have until June 11 to resolve challenged ballots in order to be counted.

The next summary report tabulating postmarked ballots received this week will be issued by the county elections office at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Further updates will be issued at 6 p.m. Tuesdays, June 4 and 11, with final election results available the evening of June 17.

Updated unofficial results

The latest preliminary numbers from the county elections office showed no major come-from-behind victories compared to the numbers released after polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Here are the latest results as of Friday afternoon:

Jackson County Commissioner partisan races

In the Republican race, current Medford mayor Randy Sparacino is in the lead for the GOP nomination with 78.4% of the 21,580 votes cast in the race. Outgoing county assessor David Arrasmith had 16.84%, Logan Leverett Vaughan had 4.07% and write-ins made 0.68%.

Denise Krause, the sole candidate for the Democrat nomination, had 98.46% of 15,923 with another 246 votes going to write-in candidates.

Jackson County ballot measures

Two of the three ballot measures seeking to change the structure of the county’s Board of Commissioners appeared to be failing as of Friday, and the one that passed appears to be dependent on other measures passing.

Measure 15-224, which sought to make Jackson County Commissioner a nonpartisan position, was failing with 56.86% no votes out of 54,827 ballots cast. And Measure 15-225, which sought to increase the Board of Commissioners from three to five, failed with 54.65% no votes out of 54,833 cast.

Measure 15-226, which sought to codify county commissioner salaries to $75,000, was passing with 63.32% of the 54,563 votes in favor. The text of the salary measure, however, states that in order to go into effect, the measure expanding the board to five members also needed to pass.

Local measures

Ashland Measure 15-227, amending the city charter to make City Recorder an appointed position rather than an elected one, was passing with 79.37% of 7,077 votes cast. And Ashland measure 15-228, which allows the chief of police to designate a sergeant at arms to take his place at city council meetings, was passing with 85.65% of 7,037 votes cast.

Measure 15-229, the Evans Valley Rural Protection five-year levy funding general operations, was passing as of Friday with 60.56% of the 1,080 ballots cast.

And Measure 17-118, a $39-million school bond affecting a small number of Jackson County residents within the Three Rivers School District, was failing with 67.8% of the 16,410 votes cast between Josephine and Jackson counties. In Jackson County alone, 57.49% of the 374 votes on the school bond were in the negative. 

Contested races

In the race for Jackson County District Attorney, Chief Deputy DA Patrick Green was holding on to his lead against public defender Alyssa Bartholomew with 52.71%, or 25,306 of the 48,010 votes tabulated as of Friday afternoon. Bartholomew has collected 22,555 votes, or 46.98%, as of Friday.

In the race for Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Position 5, defense attorney Christine K. Herbert was leading against family law attorney Joe Davis. She has 24,517 votes, or 53.82% of 45,551 votes cast. Davis has collected 20,890 votes, or 45.86%, Friday numbers show. The winner fills the post of retired Judge Timothy Gerking.

In the race for Circuit Court Position 9, incumbent Judge David Orr was leading against challenger Johan Pietila with 25,926 votes in his favor, or 55.89% of the 46,387 votes cast. Pietila has 20,240 votes, or 43.85%, results show.

Uncontested races

In the uncontested race for county assessor, Angela Stuhr has received 99.1% of 33,322 votes cast, Friday numbers show. And unopposed incumbent county surveyor Scot Fein has received 98.39% of 33,343 votes cast.

Unopposed incumbent Judge Laura Cromwell received 99.05% of the 33,152 votes cast for Circuit Court Position 4, and incumbent Circuit Court Position 7 Judge Benjamin Bloom, also running unopposed, has received 98.63% of 32,395 votes cast.

Gold Hill City Council member Joe Berggren received 97.13% of the 174 votes cast. The remaining five votes were for write-in candidates.

See rv-times.com for our complete coverage from Tuesday’s primary.