Democrats Duncan and Hinojos Pressey cut into Republican leads in Marion County commission races (Nov. 7)
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Democratic challengers Sara Duncan and Maria Hinojos Pressey gained ground on Republican Commissioners Kevin Cameron and Colm Willis in Marion County's unofficial Friday evening count.
Cameron now leads Duncan by 764 votes and Willis leads Hinojos Pressey by 518, down from 1,009 and 765 after Thursday's count.
The county has counted 97,699 ballots but had accepted 141,508, leaving about 43,800 accepted ballots still to be tallied.
Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess has said more results will come Monday and Tuesday evenings, and the county must certify the election by Nov. 30.
SALEM, Ore. - The races for both Republican-held seats on the Marion County Board of Commissioners got closer Friday, as the latest batch of ballots broke toward the Democratic challengers.
Commissioner Kevin Cameron had 47,983 votes, or 50.36%, to Democrat Sara Duncan's 47,219, or 49.56%, for Position 1, according to Marion County's unofficial cumulative results run at 5:45 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6. For Position 2, Commissioner Colm Willis had 47,682 votes, or 50.22%, to Democrat Maria Hinojos Pressey's 47,164, or 49.68%.
That cuts Cameron's lead from 1,009 votes and Willis's from 765 after Thursday's count, as Willamette News reported. Friday's update added 7,348 ballots. Duncan gained 3,674 votes to Cameron's 3,429, and Hinojos Pressey gained 3,667 to Willis's 3,420, based on a comparison of the county's Thursday 6:37 p.m. report and Friday's report. That works out to roughly a 3.4-point edge for the Democrats in the new batch in both races.
The lead has changed hands more than once since election night. Both Democrats led late on Nov. 3 before the incumbents retook the lead on Nov. 4. A Democrat has not been elected Marion County commissioner since 1976, Salem Reporter has reported.
Willamette News found no public statement from Cameron, Duncan, Willis or Hinojos Pressey about Friday's update as of Saturday morning.
How many ballots are left
Friday's report counted 97,699 ballots, or 42.3% of the county's 230,941 registered voters. The county's ballot return report, run at 7:43 p.m. Friday, showed 145,013 ballots received and 141,508 accepted. That leaves about 43,800 accepted ballots that were not yet in Friday's count.
By a Willamette News estimate based on those figures, Duncan would need to beat Cameron by a bit less than 2 percentage points among the remaining ballots to pull ahead, and Hinojos Pressey would need to beat Willis by a bit more than 1 point. The estimate assumes about the same share of voters skip these races as have so far. Friday's batch favored the Democrats by more than that, but earlier batches favored the Republicans, and there is no way to know how the rest will break.
Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess told the Statesman Journal that the county planned to release results on Nov. 6, Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, generally between 5 and 6 p.m., and that he hoped most ballots would be counted by Tuesday. Burgess also told the paper that a couple thousand voters had been sent letters about signature issues, which could matter if a race is very close.
Voters whose ballot signatures are challenged have until Nov. 24 to fix them, the list of ballot challenges becomes public Nov. 18, and the county must certify the election by Nov. 30, according to the Marion County elections page.
A broken machine slowed the count
Part of the reason so many ballots are still uncounted is that the envelope sorting machine in the clerk's office, which handles nearly every Marion County ballot, was out of service from about 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on election night, Salem Reporter reported Friday. Burgess told Salem Reporter that staff had enough work on hand to keep some people busy but that the breakdown slowed the process considerably. The Statesman Journal also reported on the breakdown.
Keizer council races
In Keizer, Daniel Kohler extended his lead over Colleen Busch in City Council Position 6 to 66 votes, 4,660 to 4,594, after leading by 37 on Thursday. In Position 4, Maralee Fletchall leads Chelsea Alionar 3,460 to 3,358, a 102-vote margin, with Tammy Kunz at 2,510. Mayor Cathy Clark has 7,002 votes, or 67.48%, to Amy Ryan Courser's 3,305.
Other Salem-area races
Democrats held their leads in the closest local legislative races in Friday's Marion County count:
House District 21 (north Salem, Keizer): Democrat Michael Welsh 9,737 (53.88%), Republican Rep. Kevin Mannix 8,305 (45.96%).
Senate District 11 (north Salem, Keizer, Woodburn): Democrat Virginia Stapleton 17,041 (54.68%), Republican Tracy Cramer 14,055 (45.10%).
House District 20 (Marion County portion): Democratic Rep. Paul Evans 4,437 (59.13%), Republican Andrew Fudge 2,898 (38.62%). These totals do not include Polk County ballots.
In the governor's race, Republican Christine Drazan led in Marion County with 48,990 votes, or 50.47%, to Gov. Tina Kotek's 45,528, or 46.90%. Kotek won a second term statewide. Statewide results are at results.oregonvotes.gov. Salem Reporter is also tracking Salem and Keizer results.
Sources
Marion County Clerk: Cumulative Results Report, Gubernatorial General Election, unofficial (run 5:45 p.m. Nov. 6, 2026)
Marion County Clerk: Cumulative Results Report, unofficial (run 6:37 p.m. Nov. 5, 2026)
Marion County Clerk: Real Time Ballot Return Report BP-015 (7:43 p.m. Nov. 6, 2026)
Marion County Clerk: November 3, 2026 Gubernatorial General Election (dates and results)
Statesman Journal: Marion County has 1/3 ballots to count after machine breaks (Nov. 6, 2026)
Salem Reporter: Marion County ballot count slowed by broken machine on election night (Nov. 6, 2026)
Salem Reporter: Democrats lead in both Marion County Commissioner races, margins remain narrow (Nov. 4, 2026)
Cover photo: Courthouse Square in Salem, OR, by SounderBruce, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
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