Union County voters back Miller, reject Measure 120 by wide margin

Union County voters cast 8,972 ballots in the May primary, a 45.67 percent turnout that outpaced the statewide snapshot and signaled a sharper local engagement than Oregon as a whole. The county’s unofficial count, updated May 20 with all 19 precincts complete, showed residents drawing clear lines between county-level priorities and a broader transportation tax package.

In the Union County commission race for Position 1, Cory D. Miller won decisively with 61.90 percent, or 5,021 votes, to Mark Simmons’ 37.83 percent, or 3,069 votes, with 22 write-ins. The Position 2 contest was much tighter and remained the race to watch as returns came in: Matt Scarfo led with 39.43 percent and 3,347 votes, Donna Beverage followed with 36.99 percent and 3,140, and Rosa Rice took 23.21 percent with 1,970 votes.

Other countywide contests were far less competitive. Justice of the Peace J. Logan Joseph received 98.69 percent of the vote in the unofficial count after being appointed to the Union County Justice Court by Gov. Tina Kotek, effective Feb. 1, 2026, following the planned resignation of Judge Rick Dall. The governor’s office identified Joseph as an Oregon native and Willamette University law graduate. District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel also ran effectively unopposed.

On the ballot measures, Union County voters rejected Measure 120 by 90.50 percent to 9.50 percent. The county described the measure as a proposal that would have increased fuel taxes, registration and title fees for roads, and imposed a tax on wages for public transportation. The margin showed broad resistance in Union County to a statewide tax-and-fee package, even as voters backed a narrower local option levy for invasive noxious weeds by 60.29 percent to 39.71 percent.

That weed levy had been referred by Union County, with its ballot title filed with the county clerk on Jan. 21, 2026, and the petition review deadline set for Feb. 4. Union County Weed Control says its mission is to protect agricultural lands, natural resources, wildlife habitat and wilderness areas from invasive noxious weeds, and the department says levy passage would allow up to $500 in reimbursement per landowner for qualified weed treatments.

The turnout figure also fits a larger pattern. The Oregon Secretary of State’s statewide page put Union County in the middle of the pack among counties, while statewide turnout stood at 37.97 percent on May 22 and later rose to 39.32 percent on May 23 as more ballots were counted. For Union County, the message from the primary was plain: voters were willing to fund a targeted local service, but they turned away a much broader tax proposal, and the close Position 2 commission race is the one that now demands the most attention as the count moves toward final certification.