Keizer council race flips as Marion County commission leads hold after Monday count (Nov. 10)
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Chelsea Alionar moved 20 votes ahead of Maralee Fletchall for Keizer City Council Position 4 in Marion County's unofficial Monday count, 4,191 to 4,171, after trailing by 102 on Friday.
Republican Marion County Commissioners Kevin Cameron and Colm Willis slightly widened their leads: Cameron is up 813 votes on Democrat Sara Duncan and Willis is up 581 on Democrat Maria Hinojos Pressey.
The county has now counted 119,720 ballots. Its most recent posted ballot return report, from Nov. 6, showed 141,508 accepted, which would leave about 21,800 to count.
Results are unofficial. Voters with challenged signatures have until Nov. 24 to fix them, and the county must certify by Nov. 30.
SALEM, Ore. - The race for a Keizer City Council seat changed leaders Monday night, while the two Republican incumbents on the Marion County Board of Commissioners held on to narrow leads as the county worked through its backlog of Nov. 3 ballots.
Marion County's unofficial cumulative results, run at 7:29 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, show 119,720 ballots counted, or 51.84% of the county's 230,941 registered voters. That is 22,021 more than in Friday's report.
Keizer Position 4 changes hands
In Keizer City Council Position 4, Chelsea Alionar now has 4,191 votes, or 36.61%, to Maralee Fletchall's 4,171, or 36.43%, a 20-vote margin. Tammy Kunz has 3,016, or 26.34%. Fletchall led Alionar by 102 votes in Friday's report. Monday's ballots added 833 votes for Alionar, 711 for Fletchall and 506 for Kunz.
Under ORS 258.280, a county clerk must order an automatic full recount when the gap between the apparent winner and the closest opponent is no more than one-fifth of 1% of the votes for both candidates. With 8,362 votes between Alionar and Fletchall, that threshold is about 17 votes, so the current 20-vote margin sits just outside it. The margin can still change as more ballots are counted.
In Keizer Position 6, Daniel Kohler widened his lead over Colleen Busch to 142 votes, 5,708 to 5,566, up from 66 on Friday. Mayor Cathy Clark has 8,582 votes, or 67.76%, to Amy Ryan Courser's 3,999. Joseph Grant is unopposed for Position 5.
Willamette News found no public statement from Alionar, Fletchall, Kunz, Kohler or Busch about Monday's update as of Tuesday afternoon.
Commission races: incumbents edge the latest batch
For Marion County Commissioner Position 1, Commissioner Kevin Cameron has 58,616 votes, or 50.31%, to Democrat Sara Duncan's 57,803, or 49.62%. For Position 2, Commissioner Colm Willis has 58,307, or 50.20%, to Democrat Maria Hinojos Pressey's 57,726, or 49.70%.
That puts Cameron ahead by 813 votes and Willis by 581, up from 764 and 518 after Friday's count, as Willamette News reported. Monday's batch gave Cameron 10,633 votes to Duncan's 10,584, and Willis 10,625 to Hinojos Pressey's 10,562, based on a comparison of the county's Friday and Monday reports. Friday's smaller batch had broken toward the Democrats by more than 3 points; Monday's was close to even.
Both leads are far larger than the automatic recount threshold, which would be about 230 votes in each race at current totals. A Democrat has not been elected Marion County commissioner since 1976, Salem Reporter has reported. Willamette News found no new public statement from Cameron, Duncan, Willis or Hinojos Pressey about Monday's numbers.
How many ballots are left
The county's most recent posted ballot return report, run Nov. 6, showed 145,013 ballots received and 141,508 accepted. Subtracting Monday's counted total leaves about 21,800 accepted ballots not yet in the results. The county has not posted a newer return report, so the true number could be different, including any ballots accepted after Nov. 6.
By a Willamette News estimate based on those figures, Duncan would need to win the remaining ballots by roughly 4 percentage points to overtake Cameron, and Hinojos Pressey would need to win by roughly 3 points to overtake Willis. The estimate assumes about the same share of voters skip these races as have so far.
Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess told the Statesman Journal last week that the county planned to release results Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, generally between 5 and 6 p.m., and that he hoped most ballots would be counted by Tuesday. Voters whose ballot signatures are challenged have until Nov. 24 to fix them, the list of challenged ballots becomes public Nov. 18, and the county must certify the election by Nov. 30, according to the Marion County elections page.
Other Salem-area races
Democrats kept their leads in the closest Salem-area legislative races in Monday's Marion County count. These totals cover Marion County ballots only.
House District 21 (north Salem, Keizer): Democrat Michael Welsh 12,321 (54.52%), Republican Rep. Kevin Mannix 10,247 (45.34%).
Senate District 11 (north Salem, Keizer, Woodburn): Democrat Virginia Stapleton 21,466 (55.36%), Republican Tracy Cramer 17,228 (44.43%).
House District 20 (Marion County portion): Democratic Rep. Paul Evans 5,131 (58.29%), Republican Andrew Fudge 3,460 (39.31%).
In Salem city races, Vanessa Nordyke for mayor, Linda Nishioka in Ward 2 and Dave Inbody in Ward 4 are unopposed on the ballot. In Ward 6, Betsy Vega has 2,333 votes, or 65.89%, and write-ins total 1,208, or 34.11%. The county report does not break out write-in votes by name. In the governor's race, Republican Christine Drazan leads in Marion County with 60,134 votes, or 50.55%, to Gov. Tina Kotek's 55,523, or 46.67%, though Kotek won a second term statewide.
Salem Reporter is also tracking Salem and Keizer results. Willamette News will update these races as the county posts new counts.
Willamette News Local Desk. Edited by Channing Webb.
Sources
Marion County Clerk: Cumulative Results Report, Gubernatorial General Election, unofficial (run 7:29 p.m. Nov. 9, 2026)
Marion County Clerk: Cumulative Results Report, unofficial (run 5:45 p.m. Nov. 6, 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)
Oregon Revised Statutes: ORS 258.280, automatic full recount
Salem Reporter: Monday 2026 Election results: Who's ahead in Salem, Keizer races (Nov. 9, 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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