Halloween, saving daylight and the week's news

Happy Halloween, Oregon!

From the sun setting before 5 p.m. to election results, there’s plenty to be scared of in the week ahead. If you haven’t yet turned in your ballot, make sure to do so at an official ballot box or your county election office by 8 p.m. Tuesday — there’s nothing more frightening than a disengaged citizenry.

As of Friday afternoon, nearly 1.2 million Oregonians — representing almost 38% of the state’s 3.1 million voters — have turned in their ballots. Northeast Oregon is leading the pack, with more than 50% of voters in Gilliam, Grant, Wallowa and Wheeler counties returning ballots ahead of the Tuesday’s deadline. Malheur and Multnomah counties both have turnout rates hovering at 30% and just a few days to step it up.

This week, Mia Maldonado took readers behind the scenes of ballot processing at the Linn County election office, walking step by step through what happens after you drop your ballot in the dropbox. She also has an Instagram video explaining it.

We shared a nationwide examination from ProPublica about how U.S. Postal Service changes are disproportionately disenfranchising rural voters, and Alex Baumhardt reported on a hotline for voters with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed it’s sending election monitors to every state and sent Secretary of State Tobias Read a vaguely threatening letter about record retention with his name misspelled.

“(M)y name is spelled R-E-A-D, as in ‘read the Constitution.’ Please update your contact information for me accordingly,” Read wrote back. He also wrote that election officials are following state and federal laws and the constitutions of the U.S. and Oregon.

Shaanth dug into campaign finance data in the governor’s race a week out from the election. It’s the last election without contribution limits, and both Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan are raking in cash.

Mia has our last pre-election profile from the 22nd House District, the Woodburn-based district that gave Democrats a supermajority in 2024. Unfortunately for voters in that district, neither candidate recognizes that speaking to the press is a key part of a politician’s job. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Lesly Muñoz declined an interview, as she has consistently since her first run for office in 2024, while Republican challenger Noemi Legaspi ignored multiple calls and emails seeking an interview. Instead, Mia drew information from the written answers the candidates’ campaigns submitted for our voter guide and from talking to supporters.

I was in Bend last weekend for the annual $20 art show organized by two artists I met when I wrote about their cat running for mayor as an end-run around the city’s sign code. The city’s still reeling from the unthinkable shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School, and many local businesses were collecting cards or pointing visitors to donation sites for the families of the children and teachers killed or injured in the attack.

This week, Shaanth reported on the different ways prominent Democrats and Republicans responded to the shooting — the Oregon Republican Party chair, GOP congressional candidate Patti Adair and several legislative Republicans jumped to blaming Democrats for blocking votes on Republican-led school safety legislation and Bend-La Pine Schools for banning guns on campus. The Democrats who represent the area in Salem, all of whom have school-aged children, have said they’re focused on supporting the community and not ready to talk about policy changes. Mia, meanwhile, wrote about the state of gun laws in Oregon and what advocacy groups want.

Schools are dealing with more smoky days, Mia reported. Shaanth has stories on business groups seeking to open more land for development and the fiber/broadband projects on hold because of Kotek’s directions to state agencies meant to pause data centers.

Our ~timely~ (sorry) Saturday story is about congressional dithering over whether to act on stopping daylight saving time. Enjoy the weekend and the last 6 p.m. sunset we’ll have for a while, and don’t forget to vote!