Former President Donald Trump won an election. And, as befits someone who has made a name for himself developing the casinos of Atlantic City, it was played on the roll of the dice.
But it wasn’t a race he signed up for and he probably won’t be taking over anytime soon.
Trump beat out four other candidates to win a seat on the board of the tiny rural fire protection district of Hubbard in western Oregon.
Trump and four others were tied for the job with write-in votes after the May 16 election. They each had two votes.
The tiebreaker was a roll of the dice.
“The candidate who won the roll of the dice was Donald Trump and because he does not live or own property in the district, the next step would be to determine if either of the other two candidates who won the roll of dice is interested,” Hubbard said. said fire chief Michael Kahrmann.
Trump, who served as president from 2016 to 2020, is running for president in the 2024 election. His campaign did not immediately respond to an email asking if he was interested in the job at Hubbard.
The fire district covers seven square miles between Woodburn and Aurora and serves approximately 5,000 residents about 30 miles southwest of Portland. According to the district, it has six paid staff members — two of them seasonal thanks to a state grant — and 26 volunteers.
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Low participation of candidates, voters
Like many off-year elections, turnout was not high in this spring’s election, either by voters or potential candidates.
There were three positions up for election for the five-person board. Incumbents Michelle Luna and Michael Willis were the only people who registered to perform. They both easily won another four-year term in their positions.
Like most special district positions, they are unpaid.
“It’s a rare thing for Hubbard not to have someone in that position,” said Kahrmann, who has worked for the district since 2006.
But there are times when it can be difficult to attract candidates. Just as it can be difficult to attract volunteer firefighters.
Since no one applied for the third position, the race ended with registered candidates.
Of the 20 people who received write-in votes in the race, five received two votes, including Trump.
Because the vote was so close, it triggered an automatic recount. This confirmed the tie at five.
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A throw of the dice
Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess said that if an election tie vote needs to be broken, it must be done by gambling.
So the dice roll.
“We handled this through both our secretary of state’s office and our in-house counsel,” Burgess said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had to do this.”
So, at 9 a.m. on June 23, the county clerk’s office rolled the dice.
None of the registered candidates were present, so others served as substitutes, each rolling a 12-sided die. In the first round, replacements for three candidates, including Trump, each scored 10. In the second round, Trump’s replacement scored a 12.
Trump was the winner.
The Marion County Clerk’s Office said it determined that another candidate and Trump were not registered to vote in the county and could not find their contact information.
“It just shows the insight we go through when people do write-ups,” Burgess said.
He said it was up to the fire district to determine if Trump was eligible to hold office.
The candidate must be an owner or live in the neighborhood.
“I don’t know how the fire district is going to determine whether Donald Trump or a Donald Trump owns property,” Burgess said. “The probability is probably not great since we don’t even have a registered Donald Trump in the county.”
Trump’s listed residence is currently Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Kahrmann said candidates who also scored 10 on the first ballot would be asked if they were interested in the position. If there are none, a vacancy will be declared and the fire board will have to appoint someone.
He said the board would determine what to do next with the position at its July 12 meeting.
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: How Donald Trump won the election for a rural fire district in Oregon