Banks, Elections, Washington County

Tuesday night’s election winners in Banks, according to unofficial results

The official ballot drop site in Banks in 2020. Photo: Chas Hundley

Tuesday night’s election ended at 8 p.m. with 91,150 Washington County residents casting a ballot, or 23.69% of registered voters. Statewide, that percentage was 25.73%, according to the Oregon Secretary of State website

Voters in the Banks area made choices on who will represent their interests on the Banks Fire District Board, the Banks School Board, the Portland Community College Board, and in some areas, the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Board.

Few races offered surprises, though on the Banks Fire Board, one incumbent — Matt Pihl in Position 1 — was unseated by challenger John Wren. Pihl also holds elected office on the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation Board in Zone 5, and serves as that board’s secretary. 

In Banks School Board races, Position 1 was won by Leslee Sipp. The current holder of the office, Norie Dimeo-Ediger, did not file to run for another term. In unofficial results, which won’t be certified until June 7, Sipp received more than 53.5% of the vote, while her opponent Jodi Hailey had 41.1%. A third candidate, Chad Mueller, pulled in 5.1% of the vote, despite suspending his campaign for Position 1 to run a write-in campaign for Position 2 against Corissa Mazurkiewicz. 

“I’m really excited, because you know, I really did want this seat,” Sipp said in a phone call Tuesday night with the Banks Post. “I really love our school district. When I retired, I wasn’t really ready to retire, so I just thought that this would be another way that I could contribute to our district and our community,” she said. 

In Position 2, Corissa Mazurkiewicz won with more than 61.8% of the vote.

Mazurkiewicz was the only name on the ballot for the position after incumbent Raymond Mott dropped out of the race. It’s not yet known how many votes Chad Mueller received, who filed to run for Position 1 but suspended that campaign to run against Mazurkiewicz as a write-in candidate. Individual write-in names are not generally listed in unofficial results, but the “write-in” column, the majority of which are likely for Mueller, received 38.1% of the vote. 

“I am feeling very relieved about the results for all three board positions,” Mazurkiewicz said in an email to the Banks Post. “I believe the candidates who did not win ran on a platform of fear and division. They put a tremendous amount of misinformation out there and it is clear that our community didn’t buy into it. I am looking forward to helping our community heal and grow together as we move forward from this challenging past year.”

In Position 4, incumbent Ron Frame won reelection by a wider margin than any other candidate in the Banks school board race, pulling in 73.4% of the vote to challenger Curt VanBlarcom’s 25.3%.

In the aforementioned Banks Fire District Board race, Position 1 saw John Wren beat incumbent Matt Pihl with more than 60.3% of the vote to Pihl’s 39.1%. 

Kevin Henning, running unopposed for reelection to Position 3, won with more than 94.6% of the vote. 

For our readers in the Roy and Mountaindale communities living in the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue service territory, the race for TVF&R’s board of directors offers no surprises. Three seats were up for election, and each incumbent filed to run for another term with no opposition. In Position 1, Bob Wyffels had 98.7% of the vote, Position 2’s Clark Balfour had 98.9%, and Position 3’s Gordon L Hovies had 98.9%.

For the Portland Community College Zone 7 race, Kristi Wilson won with more than 55.4% of the vote to Reiko Mia Williams’ 43.3%. 

This story has been updated with a quote from Mazurkiewicz.

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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.

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