Wasco and Hood River Counties See Significant Decrease in Voter Turnout
By Cole Goodwin
Voters in Wasco and Hood River County are slow to the polls this year.
By the end of day on Thursday, May 12th, Wasco County had only seen a 16.56% voter turnout.
That means there’s been a 9.97% decrease in voter turnout this year compared to the 2020 Wasco County Special election two years ago. During this same time two years ago there had already been a 26.43% voter turnout.
Pictured: Lisa Gambee
“In 2020 we had a 48.88% total turnout, “ said Lisa Gambee, Wasco County Clerk. “Presidential elections tend to get higher involvement. So, the 2018 election might be a more accurate comparison. But even then we had a total turnout of 38.19%. Either way, this year we’re dragging behind in voter turnout and I’m not sure why. There’s a fair amount of candidates in the Governor’s race, so maybe it’s voters fatigue but still it’s been a little bit surprising.”
Hood River County has seen an even more drastic decrease in voter turnout this year. At of end of day Thursday, May 12th, the County had seen only 18.4% voter turnout as compared to a 32.66% voter turnout in 2020. That means that as of Thursday voter turnout in Hood River has decreased by 14.26%.
And while there are still a few days left for ballots to find their way to the County, time is running out for both counties.
May 17th, 2022 is the primary election day. Ballots are due by 8:00 p.m.
“The Rotary Club will be collecting ballots on 5th street by the County Courthouse on the 17th from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 17th,” said Gambee.
The County Clerk’s office wanted to encourage the public to send in their votes.
“We’d rather be inundated with ballots than not. As it is we’ve already had to shift a day in our ballot processing due to the low number of ballots that have come in. There just weren’t enough balltos to keep our temporary on-call election workers busy,” said Gambee.
On May 20th, interim results of the elections will be posted. June 7th will be the last day to resolve ballot challenges, following that, final results of the election will be posted.
For more information on Wasco County candidates click here.
For more information on Hood River County candidates click here.
