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Lakeside dropsite draws attention County responds to ballot security questions ZACK DEMARS The World
LAKESIDE — Shirlee Benell and Wayne Frampton aren’t usually a part of local politics. But this year, Frampton drove his ballot to North Bend to make sure it’d get returned. Benell took hers all the way to the county courthouse in Coquille. The two have found themselves deeply engaged in the general election — not because of the heated presidential race, but because of a local ballot measure about ATV use on city
streets. What’s more, their focus on the election has made them worry about the way their city collects ballots. “It’s just kind of a ‘good old boys’ way of doing things, and that’s just not the way the world is anymore,” Frampton said. Now, Lakeside’s dropsite is looking a little different with new security measures, and city and county officials are assuring voters that their ballots are safe after some like Benell and Frampton have raised concerns about the site’s after-hours procedure. “It’s this kind of stuff that makes voters feel uneasy,” Benell said. “It seems like there should be more than we have here.” That dropsite that Lakeside
has is at city hall: During working hours, voters can drop their ballots off and watch city hall staff members put them in the county’s official, sealed ballot box. But when the office is closed — like on weekends, or after 5 p.m. — voters drop their ballots into the slot on the front door, where they fall into an open-top box or on the floor to be collected when a city staff member is next in the office. The period of time where ballots are sitting out in the open — in a building frequented by city officials who are up for election and by those who might disagree on the city’s ATV-related ballot measures — is what worries voters like Frampton. “A lot more handlers than I
think are necessary,” Frampton said. “Yes, it is (the way it’s been done before), but who’s to say that that’s the right way?” Still, elections officials are sure that the process is a safe one for ballots — and have put new improvements in place to comfort voters who might be worried. “I feel it’s secure, we’ve had absolutely no issues,” said Coos County Clerk Debbie Heller, noting that an identical system had been used in the May primary. The county sent Lakeside a new box to use for underneath the mail slot, and Heller is confident that the city staff take the appropriate steps with the ballots. Please see Lakeside, Page A10
Election coverage The World will have online coverage of the election results as they come in tonight. Check The World’s website at www.theworldlink. com for updated stories and results starting at 8 p.m. Coverage will include results from local races in Coos, Curry and Western Douglas counties, as well as state and national races impacting the South Coast.
Election day has arrived Deadline to turn in ballots at drop boxes is 8 p.m. tonight ZACK DEMARS The World
Zack Demars Photos, The World
Pikachu holds a bucket of candy outside the Coos Bay Fire Department’s Empire station Saturday.
Trick-or-treating during a pandemic Drive-through events provide safe option for collecting candy ZACK DEMARS The World
COOS BAY — Even in a year as spooky as this one, trick-ortreaters couldn’t get enough Halloween fun Saturday. Across the region, costume-clad kids and parents packed into cars and did their candy collection in a whole new way. With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging across the country, health officials shared recommendations throughout the fall warning families that they shouldn’t engage in the tradition-
Kyle Lovelace drops candy into an eager bucket during Saturday’s drive-thru trick-ortreating at the Coos Bay Fire Department’s main station. al costumed parades from doorto-door in search of sweet treats. While some still walked
through neighborhoods as they usually would — some with face masks and others without
— many heeded the recommendations instead and drove around town to a slate of organizations hosting drive-thru trick-or-treat events. “It’s doing something exciting, it’s doing something out of the normal,” said Tawyna Stumpf, an organizer at the Salvation Army’s drive-thru event. “It is hope.” Stumpf said that organizers were worried they’d have too much candy for the event, with seven stations prepared with 250 pre-packaged goodies each. A pirate-themed station brought “treasure chests” full of chocolate coins, while a spiderweb-themed station brought lollipops adorned with pipe-cleaner spiders. Please see Halloween, Page A10
Oregon could become first state to decriminalize hard drugs SALEM (AP) — In what would be a first in the U.S., possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other hard drugs could be decriminalized in Oregon under a ballot measure that voters are deciding on in Tuesday’s election. Measure 110 is one of the most watched initiatives in Oregon because it would drastically change how the state’s justice
system treats people caught with amounts for their personal use. Instead of being arrested, going to trial and facing possible jail time, the users would have the option of paying $100 fines or attending new, free addiction recovery centers. The centers would be funded by tax revenue from retail marijuana sales in the state that was the country’s first to
decriminalize marijuana possession. It may sound like a radical concept even in one of the most progressive U.S. states — but countries including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, according to the United Nations. Portugal’s 2000 decriminalization brought no surge in drug
use. Drug deaths fell while the number of people treated for drug addiction in the country rose 20% from 2001 to 2008 and then stabilized, Portuguese officials have said. The U.N. Chief Executives Board for Coordination, chaired by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is also advocating a different approach.
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COQUILLE — Voters have just a few hours to return their ballots for the 2020 general election. In Oregon, ballot boxes statewide close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, and counties will begin reporting preliminary returns shortly thereafter. It’s too late for voters to mail their voted ballots, so elections officials say they must be returned to dropsites in order to be counted. Voters can use any official county dropbox in the state and their ballots will be returned to the correct county clerk, state officials say. State health officials said voters should still be conscious of COVID-19 precautions while turning in their ballots. The Oregon Health Authority recommends wearing a mask when using a ballot drop box — which can be busy on Election Day — and staying six feet away from other voters, in addition to washing hands after touching a ballot drop slot. By Friday, almost two-thirds (over 63%) of Coos County voters had returned their ballots to the elections office. Only 51% had done so by that time in the 2016 general election, county historical data show. Curry County is outpacing Coos County, as well as much of the state, with just under 70% of ballots returned by Friday. Statewide, almost 1.7 million voters had submitted their votes by Friday, quickly approaching the 2 million that voted in the 2016 general election. About 80% of the state’s Democrats, 74% of Republicans and 48% of nonaffiliated voters have cast their ballots in this election, state data show. Voters should ensure the signatures on their ballots match those on their voter registrations, and can check the return status of their ballots at www.oregonvotes.gov/myvote. Please see Election Page A10
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