Published 7:42 am Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Measure 9-185 on the ballot this year cuts Deschutes County up into politically rigged districts and allows voters to only vote for one commissioner, instead of five. It should be defeated.

In recent years voters in our county have chosen to have five at-large commissioners, and to have non-partisan races that take the politics out of the process. This plan works to reverse all of that — undermining the will of the voters.

In this era of profound political division, we don’t need a plan that would divide us further here in Deschutes County. We need a unified County Commission that acts for all the people, not for politics.

Instead, we have a plan that was created through a deeply flawed process surrounding the District Mapping Advisory Committee — a process which disenfranchised people instead of empowering them.…