Before I get to the main points in this week’s letter, here’s an invitation:

It seems like a pretty good bet that you might have spectacular photos from the weekend’s northern lights display. If you want to share your best shot or two, send them my way, and I’ll run as many of them as I can in the Chieftain on Wednesday and online at wallowa.com. Email me at either editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com. (Our system gets cranky with photos bigger than 5MB, but it’s worth a shot.)

Let’s move on to other matters.

By this point, this message is getting repetitious, but here goes again:

If you’ve returned your ballot for this month’s primary election, good work. If not, you’ve got about a week to fill it out and return it. Those ballots need to be in one of the county’s ballot drop-off boxes or postmarked by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 21. (If you’re worried about mail delivery, I understand — but make plans to return your ballot to a drop-off box before May 21. I’ve listed their locations at the end of this letter.)

Don’t have your ballot yet? Then it’s time to call the Wallowa County clerk’s office to ask. Call 541-426-4543, ext. 1158.

The bottom line, as I wrote last week, is that you want to be sure that your voice is counted in this election.

Consider the stakes: The primary election will decide which two of the five candidates for the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners’ Position No. 1 will advance to the November general election. It will decide if Susan Roberts, the commissioner who holds down the No. 2 position, will win reelection.

Throughout Northeast Oregon, the primary will decide the winner of the four-candidate GOP race for Senate District 29, the legislative seat held by the retiring Bill Hansell — and the Republican winner is all but certain to win the seat in November. 

And, of course, there’s a compelling race in the 10th Judicial District, where incumbent Judge Wes Williams faces a challenge from attorney Jared Boyd. That race almost certainly will be settled in the primary.

Unless you want to tell me that the county commission, the courts and the Legislature don’t matter much, don’t waste your breath trying to tell me that this election isn’t important. And don’t go telling me that one or two votes won’t make a difference — unless you want me to, once again, outline the details of last year’s vote on the county Greater Idaho measure.

Now, maybe you’re worried about the possibility of voting fraud. Despite persistent (and irresponsible) accusations, here are the facts: Oregon’s vote-by-mail system is incredibly secure and voter fraud is exceedingly rare. A 2020 audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Office identified 38 criminal convictions related to voter fraud between 2000 and 2019 — out of 60.9 million ballots cast in Oregon during the same time. That works out to a rate of about 0.0000006%. (A similar review by the conservative Heritage Foundation found that election fraud nationally was nearly as rare.)

That doesn’t mean that some candidates aren’t trying to stoke baseless fears about election fraud. Pay them no mind. 

(It also is disappointing that the three Republican candidates for secretary of state all are calling for the state to junk its vote-by-mail system. Perhaps they forget their history — the last two GOP secretaries of state were vote-by-mail boosters, including Dennis Richardson, the only GOP candidate elected to a statewide position this century. And rock-solid Republican Linn County is the spiritual home of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system.)

In the meantime, say you’re one of those voters who waits until the last minute or two to cast your ballot. That’s understandable, and if you’re looking for more information about the candidates, let me call your attention to the Chieftain’s election coverage online.

Our website has profiles of all seven candidates in the county commission race — John Amond, David Brandt, Lisa Collier, Angelika Dietrich-Garoutte and Devin Patton in the Position 1 race and incumbent Susan Roberts and challenger David Hembd in the Position 2 race.

All four Republican candidates for Senate District 29 appeared at the April 28 election forum in Enterprise to make their pitches for voter support. Here’s my coverage of that portion of the event. And here’s a link to a story in which the four candidates answered questions from the EO Media Group.

As for the judicial race, La Grande Observer reporter Isabella Crowley and I teamed up for a pair of in-depth stories examining the biggest issues there. You can read the first part here. And you can read the second part by clicking here.

We’ve got plenty of other stories planned for our May 15 issue, including:

• We’ll check in on the election: What’s the turnout thus far? Do county election officials expect anything unusual? And why is it that, in a close race, we might not have final results on election night — or even for a few days? 

• Endorsements from right-to-life political action committees have become an issue in the race for Senate District 29.

• Got barn cats that could use a little spaying or neutering? Enterprise Animal Hospital has a deal for you.

• Take a look inside the brand-new ambulance at Wallowa Memorial Hospital — without the hassle of being a patient in the new rig.

• Meet the sixth-grader who’s a state winner in the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest.

Of course, all of these stories will be available to read on our website, wallowa.com, in most cases before they appear in print. 

All of this is part of the Chieftain’s efforts to cover Wallowa County news to the best of our ability. As always, if you have a comment or question about the Chieftain, or want to suggest a story idea, email me at editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com. 

Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, take a moment to register your subscription for digital access of the Chieftain. Call 541-963-3161 to talk to a member of our customer service staff, who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription. (The online edition also features a big selection of puzzles available only to subscribers.)

Finally, let me take this opportunity to once again thank the Chieftain’s subscribers: It would be impossible for us to do this vital work without your support.

Mike McInally is the editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain. You can email him at editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com. And now, here’s that promised list of ballot boxes:

Ballot drop-off boxes

Three 24-hour ballot drop-off boxes are located in Wallowa County:

• Outside the Wallowa County Courthouse, 101 S. River St., Enterprise.

• Outside Joseph City Hall, 201 N. Main St., Joseph.

• Outside Wallowa City Hall, 104 N. Pine St., Wallowa.