Gervais Mayor, 3 city councilors on track to be recalled, preliminary election results show

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Preliminary results for a recall effort for the Oregon City of Gervais' Mayor and many of its city councilors is on track for success.

Though the results are not final and are still listed as unofficial, the initial results released on Marion County's website at 8:01 p.m. Tuesday, with another update posted at 9:56 p.m., both showing an over 50% "Yes" result for recalling Gervais Mayor Andrea Gilland and City Councilors John Harvey, Michael Gregory and Robb Ladd.

The first results post from 8 p.m. showed most of the votes in favor of recalling the elected officials were preliminarily between 58-59%, with 23% of eligible registered voters. The number only went up with the second 10 p.m. update, with 29% of eligible voters showing a 60% or higher result in favor of recalling each person.

Until all the votes are completely counted and made official, the status of whether these elected officials have been formally recalled remains an open question.

This comes after a recall effort one year ago saw the departure of two city councilors in Gervais from fewer than 20% of eligible registered voters, Portland Tribune reported. City Councilor Pamela Foreman saw 54.64% of those voters vying to recall her, while City Councilor Micky Wagner saw 56.12% of voters giving him the boot. In addition, the council recently dismissed Police Chief Mark Chase back in February following his being placed on leave in October 2023.

Tuesday was election day for the recall vote, with the 8 p.m. vote tally being only the first round. In the coming weeks, the election results will be updated repeatedly, according to the Marion County Clerks Office website. The final election results are scheduled to be posted "by 5 p.m. Monday, 27 days after Election Day," which is Monday, July 15, 2024.