LA GRANDE — The Union County political front is quiet as the Tuesday, March 8, filing deadline approaches for the May 17 local elections.

Three Union County positions and four La Grande City Council positions are up for election but to date there are no contested races.

Positions 1 and 2 on the Union County Board of Commissioners are among those that will be on voters’ ballots. Incumbents Paul Anderes (Position 1) and Matt Scarfo (Position 3) each filed for reelection in late summer of 2021. Anderes and Scarfo are both completing their first four-year terms as members of the Union County Board of Commissioners.

Nobody has filed to run against either Anderes or Scarfo. Several people have picked up filing packets for the Union County Board of Commissioners positions but nobody has yet turned any of them in, according to Lisa Feik, chief deputy of the Union County Clerk’s Office.

The position of Union County District Attorney is also up for election. Incumbent Kelsie McDaniel is the only candidate to have filed for the position, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s website.

Positions 5, 6 and 7 and the mayor’s position are up for election on the La Grande City Council. Incumbents Gary Lillard (Position 5), John Bozarth (Position 6) and Mayor Steve Clements have all announced they will not run for reelection. The only incumbent on the city council who has announced he will run for reelection is Justin Rock (Position 7).

It is not yet known who will be running for the open La Grande City Council positions because candidates must collect at least 20 signatures from registered voters before they can file. The March 1 date was the deadline for submitting petitions with the required amount of signatures.

The signatures on the petitions submitted are now in the process of being verified. The city of La Grande will announce which candidates submitted petitions with enough verified signatures by March 5, Sandra Patterson, La Grande city recorder, said.

All La Grande City Council elections will be conducted in the Nov. 8 mail election unless there are three or more candidates for any of the positions. If there are at least three candidates for a position and one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, that individual will be elected, Patterson said. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will face off in a Nov. 8 runoff election.