Two Redmond residents are battling it out for the third open seat on the Redmond City Council, with the most recent election results separating them by only 270 votes.
Paul Povey is leading Barbara Tate as of the last results, released at 1:06am on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the race for the third Council seat. The Redmond City Council race differs from elections in other Central Oregon jurisdictions. Instead of winner-take-all individual races, three open seats were up for grabs in an open pool. There were five candidates, including Tobias Colvin, who currently looks to have won a seat with 8,533 votes for 23.24% of the total, and Kathryn Osborne, who appears poised to claim the second seat with 8,370 votes or 22.80%.
Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison said the next results release will occur on Friday, Nov. 13. Final results will be released Monday, Nov. 30. Counties must certify their respective election results no later than the 27th day after the election, which is Nov. 30.
Dennison said he doesn’t anticipate that there’ll be a hand recount in the Povey/Tate race. He said there is a “really narrow” margin of one-fifth of 1% of the total votes for both candidates that would mandate a hand recount.
“Right now, I don’t see it being that close,” Dennison said of the battle for the third Council seat. But that’s not to say that the race is decided, as ballots continue to arrive at the clerk’s office, both by voters who waited until Election Day to mail them and those that were returned in other counties and are then forwarded to Deschutes County.
County staff are currently busy verifying signatures on returned ballots, which are scanned and tallied electronically, Dennison said. Signatures then are compared “with human eyes” to ensure the signature a voter adds to their ballot’s return envelope matches that on their voter-registration card. The people comparing those signatures are trained to recognize subtle differences so as not to incorrectly flag a signature as potentially invalid.
However, if a signature is flagged, that voter receives a letter indicating the potential discrepancy. There is a new signature card with the letter, and the voter has 21 days to submit an updated signature either in person.
Tate, who ran Tate and Tate Catering Company for 20 years with her husband, George, isn’t giving up the fight yet.
“It’s still within striking distance,” said Tate, 74. “I’m not sure how much the needle will be changed, so I’m focusing on how I can be involved in the community regardless. I might be known for being a former business owner, but I’m an unknown as far as politics is concerned, so all of this is a learning experience. I may not be in a political office, but I’m definitely going to be involved in my community.”
Povey, 45, is a lifelong resident of Redmond and a 2000 graduate of Redmond High School. His family has been in Redmond for nearly 100 years. He says he’s cautiously optimistic that he’s won the third seat, but “I’m not calling it yet.
“I’m pretty excited and humbled,” said Povey, who is CEO of Povey and Associates, a family business he runs with his brother, Roy Povey. “I’m glad Redmond trusts me, and I’m ready to get in there and get the job done.”
He said his “familiarity with Redmond and my background in planning” will be helpful should he secure the third seat, and counts helping enhance the city’s infrastructure, and expansion of the urban-growth boundary, as priorities.
“I don’t think anything’s broken in Redmond. I just want to add to the great things (the Council) is doing,” Povey said.
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