Lane County Special Election results: Ballot measures, contested races
Register-Guard
As of noon Tuesday, the Lane County voter turnout was 21.32%, with 58,032 ballots counted.
The first round of Lane County May 18 Special Election unofficial results were released a little after 8 p.m. Tuesday with 56,969 ballots counted in the first round.
The Register-Guard is updating results Tuesday night for the ballot measures and contested candidate races as they are released.
Measures
Yes votes: 534
Springfield School Board has three seats up for election and nine candidates who would like to hold those positions.
Credit Springfield School District
The only uncontested seat is held by Emilio Hernandez Jr. who is seeking re-election for his second term.
The current board member for Position 3 is not seeking re-election. The candidates looking to fill this seat are:
Steven Hadley, who graduated from University of Oregon and is Global Director of Quality Assurance for ABCAM.
Brandy Crosby, who is a Journeyman Electrician.
Anthony Reed is a Journeyman Carpenter and was a delegate at the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters.
Three Springfield School Board seats are up for election in the May 18 Special Election. However, only two are contested, with eight candidates split between them on the ballot.
All three seats are for four-year terms. The only uncontested seat is Position 2, with incumbent Emilio Hernandez being the lone candidate. Hernandez is also the only incumbent running.
The Register-Guard sent all the candidates a questionnaire that asked about relevant experience, reasons for running, plans to make schools more inclusive and other questions. Here s a bit more about each of the candidates, based on their responses.
Since filing, Lisa Barrager decided to stop campaigning and instead is supporting Kelly Mason for the seat. However, Barrager s name will still appear on the ballot. Position 3 candidates Samantha Alcantar and Brandy Crosby did not return multiple requests for comment.
As they say, all politics is local, and in Lane County, local politics gets heated when it’s school board elections.
The issues are huge in K-12 education racism and diversity, COVID, standardized testing and more. We are impressed by all the people willing to take on this tough and important duty. Good board members are simultaneously independent thinkers, willing to question how the board is voting and why, and yet also able to function effectively with other board members they may not always agree with to get things done.
It’s great when voters and candidates get fired up about the school board especially if it means positive changes for the kids. So knowing that Eugene and surrounding communities take their school boards seriously, our small editorial board Zoomed with as many candidates as we could, and sent surveys out to the ones who we either couldn’t squeeze in or who didn’t respond. Some candidates didn’t respond in time or at all.
The pettiness of racist graffiti can be gnawing. Its results can be nerve racking.
Mica Contreras, Justice and Equity Program organizer for Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC), has, along with others, seen what they believe is an increase in graffiti vandalism directed at people of color and organizations that exist to assist them.
This has included a recent case of a spray-painted noose with the n-word accompanying it on a car in the Santa Clara area.
“Hate crimes can escalate in a community when they are not met with strong resistance,” Contreras tells
Eugene Weekly.
Graffiti vandalism hit CALC in the last week of February when it struck a youth mural, “The People’s Resistance,” in front of the CALC building.