City of Union Fire Station merger stalling as voter turnout dwindles
By Garrett Christensen on Thursday, August 24th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION – For years now, City and County officials have been pushing for the merger of the City of Union Fire and Ambulance Services with the Union Rural Fire Protection District. The two agencies, while legally distinct and with their own chiefs, share the same building, equipment and many of the same volunteer firefighters. Ballot Measure 31-118 finally sought to annex the city fire and EMS service into the Union Rural Fire Protection District. While unofficial results show an overall yes vote, insufficient voter turnout may prevent the measure from passing.
As of August 23, 2023, Union County unofficially reports that 541 residents have voted. Of these voters, 378 (69.87%) have voted yes and 163 (30.13%) have voted no. However, this only constitutes 33% of Union’s total eligible voter base of 1624. According to both the City of Union and the Union County Clerk’s Office, a minimum of 50% of the eligible voters are required to participate in order for the ballot to pass. Without the minimum turnout, the measure will fail by default no matter the preference of those that did vote.
Note that these numbers are, again, unofficial and the final count is still being tallied. As per Oregon law, mail in ballots postmarked for voting day (august 22 in this case) may be counted up to a week later. It is possible that the minimum 50% voter participation (812 voters for the City of Union) could be reached before the deadline with sufficient mail in votes.
To view the live results, visit https://union-county.org/elections/2023/August/2308.php
