Voters were unconvinced when it came to a local option levy that would have bolstered the personnel serving Marion County Fire District No. 1 in the early results from voter ballots Wednesday, May 20.
The district sought the tax increase from voters to help cover a steady increase in call volume during the past several years. The additional cost would have been roughly $4.67 per month (or $56 per year) for the owner of a home assessed at $200,000.
The measure was failing with 54 percent of voters casting ballots against it at press time.
In other elections, voters threw a huge amount of support behind Keizer women in primaries.
• Keizer resident Danielle Bethell will face off against Ashley Carson Cottingham in the race for position 3 on the Marion County Board of Commissioners. Bethell, a Republican, ran unopposed in the primary. Cottingham, a Democrat, appeared to have scored a resounding victory over Dan Norton in the primary. Cottingham had 74 percent of the vote at press time.
• Keizerite Kim Thatcher won the Republican primary to become Oregon’s Secretary of State. She will face off against Democrat state Sen. Mark Hass, who appeared to have narrowly edged out two opponents.
• Keizerite Amy Ryan Courser easily won the Republican primary to square off against Rep. Kurt Schrader in the general election to represent Oregon’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Courser was wining with 52 percent of the vote in a crowded field. Schrader, a Democrat, easily fended off two challengers capturing 70 percent of the votes.
• Republican Bill Post and Democrat Ramiro “RJ” Navarro will vie to represent Keizer in the Oregon House of Representatives. Both ran unopposed.
• Former Vice President Joe Biden scored a walk-off win in the Democratic presidential primary. At press time, he had the support of 67 percent of Democratic voters. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is no longer running for the office, came in second with 19 percent of the vote.