Newberg School Board Recall Attempt Fails

NEWBERG, Ore. — Three weeks after an election to recall two school board members in the Newberg School District, the Yamhill County Elections Office has released final results.

Chairman Dave Brown and Vice Chair Brian Shannon keep their positions on the school board with 52% of the vote in their favor.  They faced recall after introducing a ban on political and social justice signs and flags last summer.  The board then fired the Superintendent for not implementing the ban.

It took 21 days from the recall election on January 18th to cure signatures on ballots after a new law enacted January 1st says ballots postmarked on election day can be counted for one week after.  Elections staff are allowed another two weeks to review signature issues and other possible problems.

“Our office was busy.  Voters need to know the three week process following elections are always going to be a mystery to the very end,” said Yamhill County Elections Clerk Brian Van Bergen.

A huge issue in completing the tally was unclear signatures.  People registered to vote may have used signatures on file from 10 years ago, but now the way they write has changed.  Many use scribbles now where they wrote their names clearly in cursive previously.  Much more correspondence is going on now between the Yamhill County Elections office than ever before.

“It is an immense amount of extra work,” Van Bergen added.

More than 58% of eligible voters cast ballots.  There are roughly 600 voters in Washington County and another 300 in Clackamas County who were eligible to cast ballots as the district’s boundaries extend into those counties.

Vice Chair Shannon talked with KXL’s Lars Larson.

Our news partner KGW talked with Chairman Brown.

The board voted in November to fire the Superintendent, Dr. Joe Morelock, without cause.

Related | Newberg Schools Superintendent Is Fired

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