JOHN DAY — The 802-802 tie that led to the failure of the $4 million bond to build a new pool in John Day has left both supporters and opponents wondering what comes next.

The outcome is still unofficial and is subject to an automatic recount, which is triggered under Oregon law when a vote is decided by a margin of less than 1/5 of 1%. If the results hold following that recount, both supporters and opponents are likely to be planning their next steps.

Pool bond opponent Bob Pereira thinks the plan was always to put the pool bond on the ballot in November in the event it failed in the May 17 primary election, but he is still cautious about the final result.

Pereira cited a bond levy for parks in Medina, Washington, as his reason for being cautious about the results of the bond measure until after the recount is concluded.

“The city had a vote for a levy so they could keep their parks; otherwise they would’ve had to shut everything down,” he said. “It failed by four votes on Election Night. They had a recount and I think it passed by four votes after the recount. That’s why I’m a little skeptical about jumping the gun.”

Pereria said he staunchly believes the pool bond is going to show up on the November ballot and that he and other bond opponents will be ready.

“We’ll fight it again,” he said. “I can guarantee you that. We’ve already got the stickers, and we’ll use the same signs and put the stickers with the measure number and stuff over the signs. We’ll have more time if they bring it up. I hope they don’t because of the division in the county.”

Parks and Rec not seeking redo

Lisa Weigum of the John Day/Canyon City Parks and Recreation District said the district isn’t looking to put the pool bond back on the ballot in November, leaving any such effort to citizens. Weigum also said Parks and Rec officials didn’t participate in any activities that lobbied for or against the bond, stating they felt it was their responsibility to give people the opportunity to vote on the issue. “We’ve fulfilled that commitment,” Weigum said.

Weigum also said that Parks and Recreation didn’t spend any money on the pool bond except for legal fees.

“We haven’t spent a dime on the pool,” she said. “People have made a lot of accusations about mismanagement and how this money was spent, who is spending it and where it is going. There was a lot of money spent, but none of it came from our coffers.”

If the bond does manage to make it on the ballot in November due to some type of citizen action, Weigum says Parks and Rec would hold conversations about managing the facility were the bond to pass.

“If it did come onto the ballot in another way, we feel very strongly that a pool fits within the parameters of something we should be managing,” she said. “If it did end up on the ballot, we would engage in conversation about management and ownership of that.”

Weigum said Parks and Rec does have the funds to manage an outdoor pool if one were to be built as proposed, calling the allegations that managing a pool would bankrupt the district untrue.

“The conversation around the pool bankrupting Parks and Rec was disappointing,” she said. “I don’t know how to politely say they lied. We’ve managed the pool in the past and we were able to do that and keep our doors open. We were able to provide adult and youth recreational services while improving Seventh Street. We never anticipated and our budget never showed that we’d need an operating levy for a pool.”

Election integrity

Doubts about election security were raised in the 2016 presidential election with allegations of Russian hacking and really came into the mainstream following the 2020 electoral defeat of then-President Donald Trump. Since then election officials have been in an uphill battle to convince voters of the safety and security of elections and voting systems.

Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy is aware of this mistrust and is confident the methods used by her office to count the ballots produced accurate results.

“Each ballot had at least two sets of eyes looking at it before we ran them through the machines to make sure there was nothing (wrong),” she said. “If someone used a pen that was shiny or something like that … we made sure the votes were counted accurately by the machines.”

Percy said two observers from the Republican Party were on site to monitor the vote counting process (the Democratic Party declined to provide any local observers for this election). In addition, everything Percy did in counting election ballots was being recorded by security cameras at the Grant County Courthouse.

Percy acknowledged that this bond measure was a contentious issue, with passionate people on both sides. That dynamic can lead to the losing side leveling accusations of voting fraud or irregularities in the way the votes were counted. “You can rest 100% sure that there was no fraud or nothing malicious that went on during the election process,” she said.

Percy said she takes her job extremely seriously and that she was unbiased in counting the votes for and against the bond.

“My job is to make sure the election is being done as intended, above board, nothing illegal is going on,” she said. “My job is to make sure the intent of the constituents is counted properly. Whatever that is, it doesn’t matter.”

Percy will be conducting a hand recount of the vote and will certify the result by Wednesday, June 15.