March 19, 2022 — The electoral season is beginning, as the deadline for filing as a candidate on the May 17 ballot was March 8, and March 17 was the last date for filing a measure to be included  for voter consideration.

April 1 will see Lane County and local municipalities send out-of-country and military ballots to eligible voters. April 26 is the last day to register to vote in the upcoming elections. Lane County Elections mailed voter notification cards to all active Lane County voters last week. The cards include the voter’s precinct, senate and representative district. People can check their voter status or register to vote via lanecounty.org/elections.

The election will take place on May 17. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters on April 28.

There are some local races, with three candidates running for Lane County Assessor and one candidate for Lane County Justice of the Peace. Incumbent Richard Brissenden is running for this position, which is a six-year term. 

Lane County also has three races for county commissioners. For West Lane County, Position 1, there are five candidates: Ryan Ceniga, Terry Duman, Misty Fox, Rod Graves and Dawn Lesley. Current West Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich announced he would not run earlier this year.

At present, Duman serves on the Port of Siuslaw Board of Commissioners. 

There are no county-wide Lane County measures.

Throughout Oregon, voters will also vote on partisan candidates for governor. Fifteen candidates are running in the May 17 Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon. Incumbent Kate Brown (D) is term-limited and cannot run for re-election.

Additional elections will be for party primaries for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Oregon State Senate, Oregon State Representative and some nonpartisan offices.

U.S. House District 4 will be an election to watch. Longtime incumbent Rep. Peter DeFazio is retiring at the end of the year, and there are eight Democratic contenders for the seat. 

There is only one Republican candidate running for the District 4 position, Alex Skarlatos, after Jeremy Van Tress and Garrett Hoppe withdrew from the race. 

After the primary election in May, the general election will be on Nov. 8, 2022. 

West Lane County voters can expect to meet several of the candidates for these positions in the coming months, and can look for further coverage in the Siuslaw News.

For more information, visit sos.oregon.gov/voting/Pages/current-election.aspx and lanecounty.org/elections.