All Eyes On Newberg As School Board Recall Vote Underway

HILLSBORO, OR — It's not every day that a school board election gets a bit of nationwide attention. But it's not every day that it's a recall vote that is at the center of the nation's culture wars.

That's what's happening Tuesday in Newberg.

Thousands of people have already cast their votes in an effort to recall the chair and vice-chair of the school board, Dave Brown and Brian Shannon.

As of 12:30 p.m., 12,164 people – 48.2 percent of registered voters who live within the confines of the school district – had cast their vote.

If the turnout seems high, it is.

When Brown and Shannon were elected in 2019, 24.15 percent of voters cast their ballots.

Driving the recall is the decision by the board – led by Brown and Shannon – to ban symbols denoting Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ and Pride. When district lawyers told them that it wouldn't hold up in court, they turned it into a ban of all political symbols even though they were told that wouldn't pass muster with the courts either.

At one point, Superintendent Joe Morlock was castigated by the board for not acting to remove a multi-colored rainbow flag from a school. Even though board members were told the rainbow is actually the symbol of a nearby Christian college, they hammered Morlock.

He was fired last November without cause, an action that added steam to the recall movement.

Even though today is Election Day, county election officials say that it's unlikely a final result will be announced before mid-February.

This is is the first election in the state under a new law that gives voters until 8 p.m. tonight to get their ballots postmarked. They then have seven days to arrive at County headquarters.

All the votes will then be counted by hand.