Without much fanfare, there's a special Oregon election coming up on Tuesday, May 21. As with all Oregon elections, it's vote-by-mail. You should have received your ballot by now, and that ballot is due back no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day. (If you have not yet received a ballot, you should contact your county elections office immediately.)

 

Please remember that postmarks don't count, so mail ballots no later than May 17. After May 17, you should drop them in officially designated ballot drop boxes. Each county's elections website will list such locations for that county.

 

Due to timing issues regarding the Oregon AFSCME Convention, the pending appointment of a new Council 75 Political Action Committee and other factors, we did not make any formal endorsements in this special election cycle. However, we do want to let you know that there are four Oregon AFSCME members (that we know of) running for various offices. They include:

 

• Jackson County Fire District Board, Position 3 — Ralph Browning of Local 2621 (City of Medford).

 

• Lane Education Service District, Position 3 — Cj Mann of Local 3267 (Lane County Housing & Community Services Agency)

 

• Southwestern Oregon Community College Board, Position 4 — Renee Menkens of Local 328 (Oregon Health & Science University)

 

• Southwestern Oregon Community College Board, Position 5 — Julie Kremers of Local 2892 (City of Coos Bay)

 

Portland area voters take note: while, again, AFSCME did not issue any endorsements for the May 21 election, our brothers and sisters at the Portland Association of Teachers did in both the Portland Public Schools and Multnomah ESD board races. AFSCME Local 1995 represents a variety of teacher aides and other employees at MESD. We have agreed to pass along the PAT's endorsement list for your consideration:

 

• MESD, Position 2 — Nels Johnson

 

• MESD, Position 4 — Francisco Acosta, Jr.

 

• Portland Public Schools, Zone 4 — Steve Buel

 

• Portland Public Schools, Zone 5 — Pam Knowles

 

• Portland Public Schools, Zone 6 — Tom Koehler

 

A flier from PAT with more information on the MESD and PPS candidates is attached to this article. We encourage all AFSCME members to be sure and vote in the special election.