Voters had their say in an election Tuesday night.
In this newspaper’s territory, voters chose school and fire board members for the Banks Fire District, the Banks School District, and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.
Turnout as of early Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. was 20.85%. Just 83217 out of 399,107 registered voters had returned a ballot as of Thursday.
Banks School Board
For most Banks-area voters, the outcome of the only contested race was clear.
Leslee Sipp will be sworn into a second term.
Running for Position 1 on the Banks School Board, incumbent Leslee Sipp faced challenger Jodi Hailey.
It was a familiar scenario; Sipp faced two opponents in 2021, fending off Hailey and Chad Mueller, winning more than 53% of the vote in the three-way race then to Hailey’s 41.8% and Mueller’s 4.5%.
This year, Sipp appears on track to beat Hailey by a much wider margin. The latest results showed Sipp at 72.2% of the vote to Hailey’s 27.4%.
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The Washington County Elections Division will continue to receive mailed ballots that were postmarked by May 20 for the next few days, through May 27, but the results are clear: Sipp, who has served on the school board since 2021, will win a second term.
Sipp received wide support from community leaders, including endorsements she listed in her submission to the Washington County Voters’ Pamphlet from Banks Mayor Marsha Kirk, Jim’s Market owner Mark Ward, and KGW host Grant McOmie (of Grantʻs Getaways fame).
“I am so looking forward to serving on the school board for another term,” Sipp said in a message to the Banks Post Wednesday morning. “I am so fortunate to continue in the path I love so much. We have a good school district and I am glad to be a part if it. It is exciting for me to watch our students grow and thrive,” Sipp added. “The Banks School District works as a team to ensure the best for our students and I am so happy to be a part of it.”
Two other candidates breezed to victory with no opponents in sight.
The latest results available showed Corissa Mazurkiewicz, running unopposed for Position 2 securing another term with 97.2% of the vote, and similarly, incumbent Ron Frame in Position 4 pulling in 97.2%.
Banks Fire District
Two incumbents sought another term on the board, and neither attracted a challenger for their seats on the board that manages a sprawling rural fire district that provides services to Banks, Buxton, Timber, Manning, and Hayward.
In Position 1, John Wren received 96.8% of the vote, while Position 3 incumbent Kevin Henning received 97.5%.
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Two uncontested races saw incumbents take their seats once again on the sprawling Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue board, while one incumbent, Gordon Hovies, will be ousted in favor of new-to-the-board but not to Washington County politics Roy Rogers if initial results hold.
Rogers retired after four decades as a Washington County Commissioner, opting not to run again in 2024. Before his 40 years as a commissioner, he was a Tualatin city councilor and then mayor.
Now, Rogers will return to elected life as a director on the fire board serving the four-county Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue that covers the cities of North Plains, Newberg, Beaverton, and more, and rural areas just outside of Banks near Roy and in Mountaindale.
“I am excited to serve on the Board of a very professional organization which is a known leader in providing fire services,” Rogers said in an email to the Banks Post. “Having served on Boards for general service governments (county and city) I hope to contribute my many experiences with those entities to this premier special service District,” Rogers said. “I appreciate the very warm welcome from my future Board colleagues and District staff,” he added.
Election results showed Rogers had 55.2% of the vote to incumbent Gordon Hovies’ 44.3% of the vote.
Two other incumbent candidates ran unopposed, and will win their seats. In Position 1, Bob Wyffels had more than 98.7% of the vote, while Position 2’s Clark Balfour had 98.8%.
Additional election results are expected 4 p.m. Friday.
See state-level results online at results.oregonvotes.gov. State officials may lag in placing local county races into their system.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
