
Election 2021 Precinct Maps
I still have a good bit of work to do cleaning up these maps and adding more detail, more election results, more analysis… …but I couldn’t help hitting “Publish” early so that all of you can get immediate access to what I have so far. What would you like me to prioritize next? Drop me a line. This post will be updated. — Eric Click the maps below for interactive versions – best viewed on desktop! It’ll work on mobile,

The lying is a problem.
Honesty is a good thing to model for young students. For some, though, winning at all costs seems to matter more. Newspapers shy away from using the word “lie” because it’s hard to know whether someone is knowingly spreading a mistruth or doing so out of sincere ignorance. Some lies are so inherently malicious that the distinction doesn’t really matter. What the four crank candidates for school board in Bend are doing covers the full gamut – from ignorance to

Gregg Henton is an angry comments guy
Language warning This post reproduces social media posts from a school board candidate containing NSFW and hateful language. This post includes updates below What kind of behavior is appropriate for a school board member? Only two people are vying for Position 4 on the Bend-La Pine School Board: One candidate, Shirley Olson, spent her career in education – 38 years. The other… has a Twitter account.. Meet Gregg Henton, angry internet commenter. Apart from the unbridled rage and vitriol, two

Bend school board candidates talking race on Fox News
We finally found the school board candidates who have been refusing to participate in public events or answer to the public! They’re on Fox News! Maria Dauenhauer and Wendy Imel are half of a bloc of crank candidates running for Bend-La Pine School Board this year. Traditionally, candidates appear at several public events to present their ideas. This crew has refused at every turn. They refused the League of Women Voters, the Bend Bulletin, etc etc. Well, they didn’t refuse

The public shouldn’t need context to trust police are not members of terroristic militias.
There is a political axiom – “if you’re explaining, you’re losing.” It’s attributed to Ronald Reagan and gets at issues of public trust. Bend Police Department Corporal Joshua Spano was photographed on Saturday wearing a non-regulation patch on his duty uniform reading “MOLON LABE.” Come Monday, Bend PD will likely be explaining. Or trying to. This “come and take them” slogan has become popular among gun fanatics and militias in recent years. Along with the Spartan helmet, it has become

Back of the napkin GIS sketch on redistricting
Any talk of redistricting needs to focus on giving Central Oregon more coherent representation. Bend grew astronomically since 2010, but so did the surrounding areas. Current legislative maps feature silly districts – the city of Sisters is in a Senate District (SD) that touches both the Washington and Nevada borders; La Pine is squeezed into one that includes Prineville… and the suburbs of Medford. Bend gets one House District (HD) – despite having the population for two – and is

Redistricting is coming!
Census population data will be delayed until later this year, but the map files were posted online last month. Find new maps at the Census website here.

The Oregon Republican Party has not grown in 20 years
The Oregonian pointed out today that over 11,000 Oregonians have left the Republican Party since Election Day. Twitter is full of commentary. Here’s some context: Both parties typically lose around 1% in registrations by the January after a presidential election. In 2004, Dems lost 1.75% This (1.44%) is indeed the worst decline for Rs in 20 years, but it only brings them to… Sept 2020 levels. While Rs lost more than 11,000 since November, they gained 43,256 registrations in the

Election 2020 Precinct Maps
Find detailed geographic breakdowns of the vote here.

The newspaper is a campaign resource
Whether readers are truly informed depends on editorial standards