HollyJo Beers awaits election results Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, at Athena City Hall. 

PENDLETON — Incumbent John Shafer is on his way to another term as Umatilla County commissioner.

Shafer in the race for Position 2 on the county board has 47% of the vote to 27% for challenger HollyJo Beers, according to preliminary results.

Umatilla County commissioner Position 2 candidate HollyJo Beers of Pendleton hosted an election watch party Tuesday night, Nov. 8, in the meeting room of Athena City Hall. Athena City Council Position 1 candidates Anthony Cooksley and Justin Mitchell attended the event along with Athena resident Jesse Bonifer, the Libertarian Party nominee for Oregon House District 58.

Beers’ opponent, incumbent Commissioner John Shafer of Pendleton, former mayor of Athena, was leading in early returns. At 9:15 p.m. on election night, he was cautiously optimistic.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “I’m fairly confident, but until the final numbers are in, you never know.”

Shafer looked at returns from the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, in which he led Beers by 63.3% to 36.4%, with 38.2% of ballots counted. Umatilla County usually reports low voter turnout.

“Doing the math, it appears that the county is counting undervotes as votes,” he said.

Undervotes in the Position 2 race amounted to 26% in the county’s first release of results. That means more than a quarter of voters chose not to make a choice in that contest.

“Should I not be elected,” Beers said earlier that evening, “I might pursue higher office. I’m into the running thing. It’s exciting. I’ve traveled the state for 10 years, getting my message. We need change, for the betterment of the people themselves, not public officials. I know people in high and low places. I have a lot of backers around the state.”

Beers’ low-budget campaign spent less than the $3500 minimum required for reporting to the Secretary of State. She reused yard signs from her prior commissioner’s race, bought new ones to exactly the same design and paid $900 for radio ads.

In the first release of results, Bonifer was trailing incumbent Rep. Bobby Levy of Echo 63 to 13%, with 24% undervotes. Incumbent Wayne Kostur led with 37% to Mitchell’s 28% and Cooksley’s 19%, with 16% undervotes.