Voter Turnout Down in Oregon, Deschutes Co.

Oregon’s May primary election is Tuesday, and while the GOP race for president is all but official, there are other important statewide races and ballot measures for you to vote on. But Kate Brown, Oregon’s secretary of state, says this election could have the lowest voter turnout in Oregon history.

Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship says the secretary of state is spot on with her prediction. And with one day to go, the county has seen a pretty low turnout itself.

As of late Monday, only 24.8 percent of registered voters in Deschutes County had turned in their ballot.

They expected a 50-plus percent turnout, based on historical projections over the last three presidential primary elections.

Blankenship points to the 2010 Bend City Council race between Chuck Arnold and Scott Ramsey to remind voters that every one counts.

“We had 30,000 votes and a 3-vote spread, so every vote does count. So we hope that people will take that in mind and let their voice be heard before 8 p.m. tomorrow on election day,” Blankenship said. “Voter turnout is substantially below all of those, so I’m not really sure what our turnout is going to be for this election.”

Blankenship said they hope to at least surpass 40 percent by Tuesday.

In 2008, Oregon was still in the running for delegates in the democratic race for president, which brought out more voters.

Four candidates fighting for a judge position and a Deschutes County 911 funding measure are just a couple of reasons you should vote.

But probably the most interesting race to follow come Tuesday night: the hot race between challenger Tim Knopp and Senator Chris Telfer for her state Senate seat.

On Monday, Telfer said she feels confident of her chances of winning.

Telfer has spent the last four years as Bend’s state senator, and Tuesday she will find out if she gets to keep her job.

“I’ve got the support of the grassroots here in Central Oregon,” Telfer said.

Campaign contributions have been a hot topic during the last 10 weeks. Telfer’s challenger, former Oregon House majority leader Tim Knopp, has pulled in a significant amount more money.

“It’s a statement that shows how much support there is out there amongst all these small business groups who would prefer to work with me than over Senator Telfer, who has been there for four years,” Knopp said Monday.

But could a last-minute story published in The Source Weekly play a decisive role, if the vote is close?

The story says Knopp has received a significant amount of money from a Salem lobbyist, Mark Nelson, who Telfer says is powerful and has had a personal vendetta against her.

“I stood firm and wanted to support my constituents over here. He didn’t like it, and now I think there’s a lot of vindication going on,” Telfer said.

Knopp says Nelson’s contributions are only about 10 percent of his contributions.

“My contributor base is large and has a lot of Central Oregonians,” Knopp said. “It has doctors, nurses and people who own breweries.”

Telfer has received money from the Oregon Society of CPAs, though.

“I’m not in anybody’s pocket,” Telfer said. “I’m in the pocket of people that live in Central Oregon “

Knopp says he and The Source have a long, contentious history.

So will the story have any impact? They both say they don’t know.

Knopp says the only poll that matters in this election is on May 15th after 8 p.m., when the ballots are tallied.

There’s plenty of other issues of note on the ballots, from a four-way judicial race in Deschutes County to a Jefferson County-Warm Springs school funding measure and several other contested races.

We’ll have links to the statewide and local results all night here on KTVZ.COM and a complete wrap-up on NewsChannel 21 at 10 and 11.