Measure 31-121 fails. La Grande’s city council general elections remain the same

LA GRANDE – The November 2024 General Elections have come and gone. Locally, this means the end of an opportunity for La Grande residents to modify their city charter. 

Measure 31-121 proposed a modification to language in the La Grande city charter relating to the organization of city council positions and the status of primary elections. Specifically, the measure would have eliminated the position numbers for all seven city council seats. Instead of prospective candidates running for a specific position, all candidates would run together for all open council positions simultaneously. The three candidates with the highest votes would thus be elected to the open council positions. Candidates for Mayor would be separated from city council positions and run specifically against each other on the ballot.

In addition, the primary election for mayor and councilor positions would be eliminated. Instead, the measure proposed to have mayor and councilor candidates apply for candidacy as part of the biennial general election. 

Lastly, the measure would have updated the language for filling mid-term vacancies via appointment from the city council for the duration of a vacant term. This included eliminating the use of elections for filling mid-term vacancies if two or more years remained. 

The measure ultimately failed with a 55.89 percent NO vote (3008 votes) and a 44.11 percent YES vote (2374 votes). 

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