Oregon Journalism Project: Judge Declines to Dismiss Douglas County Elections Case

The import of those rulings is twofold: First, the specific dispute will continue toward trial; and second, the continuation of the case will keep attention focused on some of the participants' larger aim — to end Oregon’s vote-by-mail system. 

Most directly, the judge’s rulings keep alive a petition for review that plaintiff Todd Vaughn filed in June after apparently losing his seat on the Umpqua Public Transportation District board. As OJP has previously reported, Vaughn claims the vote tally, conducted by Douglas County Clerk Dan Loomis, unfairly cost him his seat. 

Preliminary results showed incumbent Vaughn with a slim lead over challenger Natasha Atkinson on election night, May 20. But after tallying the rest of the votes, Loomis determined eight days later that Atkinson had pulled ahead and won by a margin of 2.36%, far in excess of the margin for an automatic recount. Nonetheless, Vaughn filed a petition for review June 24 in Douglas County Circuit Court, citing unspecified “illegal votes” and “material error.” 

A lot has changed since that initial filing. For starters, Vaughn, a nonlawyer who filed the initial petition on his own, hired attorney Stephen Joncus, who is also a co-chief petitioner for Initiative Petition 37, which would end vote by mail statewide. (His two co-chief petitioners, Ben Edtl, a political consultant and, until last month, CEO of the Umpqua Public Transportation District, and Michaela Hammerson, a board member of the transit district, are close Vaughn allies.) 

Second, Vaughn filed an amended petition that alleges Douglas County elected officials and political insiders conspired to keep him out of office and that is the real reason he lost. After the filing of the amended petition, the original judge in the case, George Ambrosini, recused himself, although he was not named as one of the alleged co-conspirators against Vaughn. The other judges in Douglas County (there are four) also recused themselves, and the case was reassigned to Josephine County Circuit Judge Matthew Galli. 

On Sept. 25, attorneys for Loomis, the county clerk, and Atkinson, the apparent winner, asked Galli to dismiss Atkinson from the case and Vaughn’s amended petition, which Loomis’ attorney said amounted to “meandering and irrelevant allegations.” 

“Vaughn does not allege any ultimate facts that would constitute an election law violation, illegal vote, mistake or fraud in the vote count or canvass or error in the distribution of ballots,” wrote Loomis’ attorney, John DiLorenzo. 

But as the Roseburg News-Reviewfirst reported, Galli declined the motions to dismiss. He did order Vaughn to file a more substantive petition within 30 days and allowed the discovery process to move forward. No trial date has been set.

•••

This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project (oregonjournalismproject.org), a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon.