A voter drops a ballot off in front of the Forest Grove City Library in 2019. This is the last time we can use this photo, since Washington County repainted the ballot box and it no longer looks like this. Photo: Chas Hundley
Here we are, 40 days from the November 3 election. It might seem like an arbitrary number, and you’re probably right, but for our newsroom, it marks a mad scramble to try to fit as much coverage as we can into the coming weeks as we march closer and closer to Election Day. Here’s what to expect from us.
We’re covering a number of local race, and in keeping with our hyperlocal focus, we’ll be devoting much of our resources to writing first about local races. We’ll be covering two Washington County measures, as well as every state ballot measure in the coming weeks.
Tomorrow, we’ll have an overview of an oft-overlooked elected board, which is the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District. This year, there’s an at large seat up for election with three people vying for the spot!
We’re also digging into our local legislative races, with a focus on House Districts 32 and 31, where the vast majority of our readers live, and, God help us, we’ll have at least one general informational article about the upcoming presidential race between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden.
As we get closer to the fated date, we’ll have information on how to vote by mail and by using a ballot drop box, information on the process by which your ballot is delivered, and how the Oregon Secretary of State plans for a secure and safe election in the midst of a pandemic.
And on election night (and the days that follow) we’ll be reporting a slew of results in all the races, with special Election Day coverage, where you’ll find me taking part in the time-honored journalistic tradition of feverishly clicking “refresh” over and over again starting at 8 p.m. on Election Night to see Oregon’s results.
And finally, we’ll be here no matter the outcome of the election on the local, state, and national level, digging into whomever is elected to ensure that our role as a watchdog of our little corner of Washington County is maintained for years to come.
If you’re not currently a subscriber, please consider joining us today — we’re pushing a little harder these next few months for new subscriptions to make sure I can keep our freelance writer Daniel’s slate full of robust stories — and to encourage that, we’re dropping our 12 month digital subscription price by $10 starting Friday, September 25.
And that, my friends, is our rough sketch of how we will cover the election this year. November 3, here we come.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
