Incumbents get the boot

Fredrick, 68

Zone 4: Nelson, 199: Jones, 146

Zone 5: Nerdin; 196;

Bowman, 187

Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue:

Pos. 2: Willer, 1,636, Gronquist, 751

Pox. 4: Wolfe, 1,375, Larsen, 1,125

Dufur School District:

Pos. 4: Wallace, 167, Johnson, 127

S. Wasco Co. School District:

Zone 6: Franklin-Rager, 272;

Foreaker, 218

The Dalles — In an election with only a 29.3 percent turnout, some races in Wasco County’s special district elections on May 21 came down to fewer than 50 votes.

“Twenty nine percent is pretty low … we had a very quiet day,” said County Clerk Linda Brown. She said a similar race in May 2011 had a 35 percent turnout.

Brown said elections without “money measures” tend to have lower turnouts.

“If the college has something or parks and rec has something, that really gets people excited, and that’s what brings the numbers up,” she said.

The closest race was to represent Zone 5 on the North Wasco County School District 21 school board, where Eric Nerdin received 196 votes to Aaron Bowman’s 187. Nerdin will replace Brian Stahl, who chose not to run for re-election.

Nerdin said he believed the amount of yard signs people posted for him helped him gain an edge in the race. He pointed out that the election results are not official for another 20 days, so a few more ballots could trickle in from other county clerks’ offices.

“It’s not likely, but with a race so close there’s an outside chance Aaron could still win, so I’m not jumping up and down just yet,” he said, noting that if Bowman did happen to win Nerdin believed he could also do a good job of representing the district.

In other District 21 races, Dean McAllister beat John Fredrick by a wide margin after Fredrick announced he was dropping out of the race. John Nelson beat incumbent Dave Jones by 53 votes.

For Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, Dr. John Willer beat Carmen Gronquist with 68 percent of the vote. Position 4 will be represented by Bill Wolfe, who beat incumbent Harry Larsen 1,375 to 1,125.

In the race to represent Zone 6 on the South Wasco County School District Carol Franklin-Rager beat Mike Foreaker by 272 to 218.

Robert Wallace will sit on the Dufur School District 29 board after gaining 56.6 percent of the vote in his race against Cindy Johnson.

Lee Roy Herman won Position 3 on the Mosier Fire District board with 131 votes to Marc Berry’s 84.

All other races were uncontested and won by the only candidate, although in many cases there were a handful of write-ins.