By Emma J Nelson and Eve Weston

Around 16 percent of Lane County’s registered voters turned in ballots this year. That’s almost 50 percent fewer ballots cast than the last special district election. Special elections like this one are known to result in a smaller turnout with the candidates being so locally focused. 

In Oregon’s May 20 special election Oregon voters decided on local measures, and elected school officials and other district representatives. 

Initial results published at 11 pm election night included the tally from over 45,000 ballots from drop box sites and mail-in voting. 

The Lane Community College Board of Education was clearly decided by election night, with the closest race — incumbent Julie Weismann against 18-year-old Devon Lawson — coming to a close with Weismann receiving 56 percent of the vote for LCC director zone 3, which serves the Springfield and Marcola area. Lawson told Eugene Weekly he’d been inspired to run for the position after Weismann walked out after abstaining from voting on a Dec. 18 board decision to fill now-Rep. Lisa Fragala’s seat. The seat has gone unfilled until this election. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lawson writes in an email to EW. “This campaign was never just about a seat on the board, it was about building grassroots power in Lane County, and that work continues.” Lawson says he plans to run for office again in 2026 and maintain his democratic values.

Weismann raised $23,975 in campaign contributions — $6,500 of which came from the Community Action Network, a PAC that provided funding to right-wing Lane County commissioners Ryan Ceniga and David Loveall — and spent $23,388, according to the Oregon Secretary of State. Lawson raised $22,303 — $12,863 coming from in-kind contributions by Oregon Education Association PAC — and spent $15,108. 

Weismann says she is going to keep working to make sure students have the resources necessary to be successful. “I would like to see more reports and numbers on what we can do to make sure we’re responsive to our community’s needs,” she says.

Former Lane County commissioner Jerry Rust beat Jeffrey Cooper — who was also endorsed by the right-wing county commissioners — with 64 percent of the vote for LCC director zone 1, which serves western Lane County and the coast, and incumbent Austin Fölnagy retained his seat as LCC director zone 4 — eastern Lane County — over Richard Andrew Vasquez with another 65 percent of the vote. Jesse Maldonado, who ran unopposed, will serve in the LCC director position 7 at-large seat for two more years.

The Eugene 4J School District School Board remains unchanged, as incumbent candidates won in all three at-large races. Ericka Thessen beat opponents Danny McDiarmid and Alan Madden with 82 percent of the vote; Judy Newman retained her seat over Donald Easton with 70 percent; and Maya Rabasa ran unopposed.

In the one contested race for the Lane Education Service District, Thomas Hiura beat Rich Cunningham with 77 percent of the vote for the seat representing western Lane County.

The Siuslaw School District 97J caught Eugene Weekly’s attention when its school board voted to ban a graphic novel with a queer protagonist from high school shelves in March. The school board members up for re-election who voted in favor of book banning were unseated. 

Incumbent Maureen Miltenberger — who voted against the book ban — won over Dennis King with 57 percent of the initial vote for position 4, and incumbent John Barnett — who voted in favor of the ban — lost to Adrian Pollut, who received 56 percent of the vote, in the race for position 2. 

“The book banning was definitely what caused me to run,” Pollut tells EW. “I was at the meeting where they banned that book. I heard our whole community come out and offer public comment against the book ban. The next day I registered for the election.”

In the race for position 6, in which there were no incumbent candidates, Tom Posegate beat out Maygan Hiatt with 54 percent of the vote.

Measures

Voters approved Measure 20-370 with 71 percent of the vote, which renews a five-year local option levy for general school operations. This means Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District 66 will continue to levy approximately $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value to retain teachers and school staff — avoiding a budget cut of approximately $384,000. The levy is expected to raise over $2 million over the next five years. 

Measure 20-368 — which asked if the Junction City School District should issue $40 million in bonds payable from property tax to fund school infrastructure improvements like classrooms, HVAC systems and roofing — did not pass this cycle. 

Voters passed Measure 20-369 with 76 percent of the vote, imposing a levy of an estimated $0.45 per $1,000 of assessed property value on properties in the Santa Clara Rural Fire Protection District for general operations. This levy will raise an estimated $2.1 million over five years. 

Measure 20-367 narrowly passed with 52 percent of the vote, imposing a levy of approximately $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value in the Lowell Rural Fire Protection District beginning in 2025-26. According to the measure description, 20-367 might cause property taxes to increase by more than 3 percent. The revenue will be used to provide an estimated $1.8 million in funding to the RFD’s fire protection and emergency services.

Final official results are published at LaneCounty.org/Elections Monday, June 16.