EDITOR’S NOTE: We have recently watched several regional news media interviewing Tillamook County residents and other political prognosticators – including this well-written overview from Willamette Week. Tillamook County is established as a “bellweather” county – an “indicator” – in other words, our voters have selected the president in numerous elections through the decades.
According to the Tillamook County Clerks office, 64.56% of registered voters ballots have been received. The highest voter turnout was in 2008 – at 86.4%, and County Clerk Tassi O’Neil encourages everyone to drop off their ballot at a ballot drop box. Drop box locations will be open 24 hours, until November 3rd and closed at 8 pm on election day. href=”https://www.co.tillamook.or.us/gov/Clerk/Elections%202020/DROPSITE.media&sites.schedule.pdf”>DROP BOX LOCATIONS
By Nigel Jaquiss, Abbey McDonald & Nick Rosenberger| Willamette Week
(Reprinted by Permission – Published October 28 at 6:00 AM; Updated October 28 at 6:00 AM)
When you talk to Logen Steinbach and his neighbors, four years under Trump haven’t changed any minds. They’ve merely driven people further apart.
Except for four years in the military, Logen Steinbach has lived his whole life on Oregon’s North Coast. He’s part of an electorate with an uncanny record of picking presidential elections: As Tillamook County goes, so goes the nation.
In 2020, he expects it will go for President Trump.
“My outlook is, the incumbent will win,” says Steinbach, 35. “From what I’ve gathered, there’s good support in this community for Trump.”
Tillamook County has cast a majority of its votes for the winner in each presidential contest since 1992. In recent years, the county went big for President Barack Obama in 2008, supported him again in 2012, and then flipped to Donald Trump in 2016. That’s unusual for a state in which most counties are either red or blue.
Polls show Oregon is voting for Joe Biden next month. But the polling lead for the Democratic nominee is 11 percentage points. If that number sounds familiar, it’s because Hillary Clinton carried Oregon by the same margin in 2016.