By the time most of the dust had settled around the Nov. 5 election, more than 80% of registered voters in Wallowa County had returned ballots — and voters had elected a new county commissioner, Lisa Collier, and a new mayor of Enterprise, Cody Lathrop.

Meanwhile, Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash easily won election to the Oregon Senate. Nash, who is stepping down from the commission, will take his seat in the Senate when the Legislature convenes in January. 

Turnout in Wallowa County as of Wednesday was 80.6%, the third-highest mark in the state. (Only Wheeler and Sherman counties had better turnout, although Benton County, on the state’s west side, came close.)

And Wallowa County’s turnout was considerably better than statewide turnout, which was a shockingly low 69.4% — this, in a state that prides itself on strong voter turnout. That number might grow a bit as ballots trickle into election offices, but it could be the lowest statewide turnout in a presidential election year in at least 75 years. (The 1996 presidential election in which Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole for a second term had a 71.3% turnout in Oregon.)

That’s a troubling trend, and columnist Rich Wandschneider has written a pair of recent columns about why people don’t vote. His most recent column was written shortly after Tuesday’s election, and it’s thought-provoking, even if you don’t agree with all of it. (Remember that the purpose of opinion columns and letters to the editor is to, well, express an opinion. If you disagree with the opinion stated, you can always send me a letter to the editor or a column saying so.)

Other counties throughout Northeastern Oregon had interesting election results as well, and you can read about those in the Wednesday print edition of the East Oregonian. But if you can’t wait, remember that, as a subscriber to the Chieftain, you have access to five other websites that cover the region: the La Grande Observer, the East Oregonian, the Hermiston Herald, the Baker City Herald and the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day.

Here’s how you can access those other websites:

• Simply register your account on every site you wish to read with the same email address and password you currently use.

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To view the latest e-Editions, be sure to register your account and sign in to www.eastoregonian.com.

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If you have questions or need assistance, contact us at 800-781-3214.

This would be a good time to remind you about something else that’s important: Even though the weekly printed edition of the East Oregonian features the best of the Chieftain’s news coverage, it doesn’t have enough space to include all of our stories. For our full news report, you need to keep an eye on our website. And when we post new content on the website, I’ll let you know about it via social-media posts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

Here’s a small sample of the stories that we’re working on that haven’t yet appeared in the print edition of the East Oregonian:

• If you drive by Wallowa occasionally, you might have noticed an unusual sight: a big herd of Texas longhorns. Bill Bradshaw has a story about that herd (reportedly the biggest longhorn herd west of Texas) that is scheduled to be printed in Wednesday’s East Oregonian, but it’s online now.

• The Wallowa County Board of Commissioners got pushback last week about its decision to pull the plug on a proposal to establish a commercial business overlay that would have placed restrictions on so-called “formula stores” in the county. I’ll have the latest developments.

• Ann Bloom is working on a story about how you can work to reduce hunger in Wallowa County, a serious problem. She also has a story about a breast cancer support group that just wrapped up a successful fundraising auction. Look for both of those stories early this week on our website, wallowa.com. 

If you have comments, questions or story ideas for the Chieftain, send an email to either mmcinally@wallowa.com or editor@wallowa.com. It may take me a few days to get back to you, but I try to answer all the emails I receive.

If you have questions about the East Oregonian’s printed edition, or want to pass along a story idea, send an email to this address: editor@eastoregonian.com.

Finally, of course, thank you to all of our subscribers. We simply would be unable to do this vital work without your support.

Mike McInally is the editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain and the associate editor of the La Grande Observer.