Morrow County Board of Commissioners recall, Oregon (2024)

• Recall efforts
  • Recall efforts by state
  • Recall efforts by office
  • Recall efforts by year
  • Upcoming recall elections
• Local recalls
  • City council recalls
  • Mayoral recalls
  • County commission recalls
  • County official recalls
  • School board recalls
  • Sheriff recalls
  • Special district recalls
• State and federal recalls
  • State executive recalls
  • State legislator recalls
  • U.S. Congress recalls
• Laws governing recall
  • States that have pre-petition signature requirements for recalls
  • States that require grounds for recalls
• Analysis
  • What are recalls?
  • Recall terms
  • 2024 year-end analysis
  • 2024 mid-year analysis
  • 2023 year-end analysis
  • 2023 mid-year analysis
  • 2022 year-end analysis
  • 2022 mid-year analysis
  • 2021 year-end analysis
  • 2021 mid-year analysis
  • 2020 year-end analysis
  • 2020 mid-year analysis
  • 2019 year-end analysis
  • 2019 mid-year analysis
  • 2018 year-end analysis
  • 2018 mid-year analysis
  • 2017 year-end analysis
  • 2017 mid-year analysis
  • 2016 year-end analysis
  • 2016 mid-year analysis

Morrow County Board of Commissioners recall
Officeholders
David Sykes Jeff Wenholz Roy Drago Jr.
Recall status
Recall defeated
Recall election date
July 22, 2024
Signature requirement
613 signatures per officeholder within 90 days
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws County commission recalls Recall reports

Recall elections against David Sykes, Jeff Wenholz, and Roy Drago Jr., members of the Morrow County Board of Commissioners in Oregon, were held on July 22, 2024. A majority of voters cast ballots against the recalls, keeping the three commissioners in office.

The recall effort was initiated when Stuart Dick filed the initial recall paperwork with the Morrow County Clerk on February 15, 2024. In order to get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters needed to collect 613 signatures per officeholder. Organizers handed in 723 signatures against Sykes, 727 signatures against Drago, and 743 against Wenholz. The Morrow County Clerk validated 668 signatures for Sykes, 669 for Drago, and 686 for Wenholz.

Recall vote

Drago recall

Roy Drago Jr. recall, 2024

Roy Drago Jr. won the Morrow County Commissioner, Position 1 recall election on July 22, 2024.

			Recall  Vote	%	Votes
			Yes	31.5	707
		✔	No	68.5	1,537
			Total Votes		2,244

---

It has been certified. Source

Wenholz recall

Jeff Wenholz recall, 2024

Jeff Wenholz won the Morrow County Commissioner, Position 2 recall election on July 22, 2024.

			Recall  Vote	%	Votes
			Yes	33.7	759
		✔	No	66.3	1,492
			Total Votes		2,251

---

It has been certified. Source

Sykes recall

David Sykes recall, 2024

David Sykes won the Morrow County Commissioner, Position 3 recall election on July 22, 2024.

			Recall  Vote	%	Votes
			Yes	31.9	718
		✔	No	68.1	1,532
			Total Votes		2,250

---

It has been certified. Source

Recall supporters

The petition against Sykes, Wenholz, and Drago listed the following reasons for recall:

“

1) All three Morrow County Commissioners (BOC) refuse to cooperate or exercise transparency with MCHD (Morrow County Health District). They have not followed the established process for amending the Ambulance Service Area Plan, damaging the viability of the county ambulance service after approximately thirty years of saving lives. 2) BOC has not cooperated with Heppner residents or been transparent regarding the site for the new Circuit Courthous in Heppner. 3) The current BOC has lowered their official workload to two meetings a month and are in the process of hiring a second Administrator at a County cost, with benefits, of $365,000 for both. Unacceptable to Morrow County Citizens. 4) Morrow County has a very serious nitrate pollution problem regarding well drinking water primarily in the north end. BOC has not used their authority to address or take leadership to remediate this health hazard. 5) The BOC has made an unnecessary tax abatement deal with Amazon to the detriment of Morrow County taxpayers. In the future tax abatement deals with Amazon must be subject to citizen transparency and experienced/skilled negotiators.

”

Recall opponents

In response to the possible recall, Commissioner David Sykes said he looks "forward to talking to people, that way you get to give them the factual information about what you're doing." He added: "I got the legal advice, we held town halls...we've done everything legally and above board, out in the open." Sykes also said that "a lot of the information was put out before we even had the plan developed...when you have something to show them, then you can show it to them, but until that point, there was nothing to show anybody.”

As of March 27, 2024, Ballotpedia has not identified a response from Wenholz or Drago.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon

No specific grounds are required for recall in Oregon. To get the recall on the ballot, supporters must collect signatures equal to 15% of the votes cast in the last regular gubernatorial election in the relevant jurisdiction. Signatures must be collected within 90 days.

Recall context

See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report

Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.

The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.