Balloting concludes Tuesday in the Hood River County Special Districts Election.

By law, any vote result separating candidates by one-half a percentage point or less means an automatic hand recount. As of press time, incumbent Chuck Thomsen (R-Pine Grove) has 29,344 votes to Democrat Chrissy Reitz’s 29,086, according to the latest figures from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

The bulk of ballots for the Nov. 6 election will be mailed on Oct. 17 to registered voters in the county. Voter registration deadline is Oct. 16 for new registrants and current voters with a change of address or other update to their registration information.

Bilingual registration events this week included Walmart on Monday and Lake Taco on Tuesday, which was National Vote Registration Day. On Wednesday, volunteers will be at Columbia Gorge Community College from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday at INB bank from 4-6 p.m., and on Sunday, at Streets Alive on the Heights from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Turnout is at 23.5 percent as of Friday morning in the May 15 Primary Election. That’s 3,341 ballots out of the 14,207 issued. The deadline is 8 p.m. on May 15 to submit ballots in the wide-ranging Primary Election.