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Salem area Senate seat remains undecided

Senate District 10 extends into Polk County and includes west and south Salem.

No clear winner has yet to emerge in a hotly contested state Senate race two days after election night.

As of Thursday afternoon, neither Sen. Denyc Boles, R-Salem, nor her Democratic challenger Deb Patterson had declared or conceded defeat in one of just a few Senate races considered competitive this election.

The most recent results posted to the secretary of state’s website Thursday morning put Patterson slightly ahead with 35,456 votes or 48.9%. Boles had 34,399 votes or 47.4%. Libertarian Party candidate Taylor Rickey had 2,482 votes or 3.4%. A total of 72,466 votes had been counted.

Patterson told Salem Reporter on Wednesday that despite her lead she wasn’t taking it for granted. Saying she wanted to assure voters that their votes matter, she said she wouldn’t declare victory until every ballot is counted.

“I want to honor the democratic process,” she said.

Boles did not respond to a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday. But she later took to Facebook to point out that she had picked up a significant amount of votes since election night and was waiting for more votes to be counted.

“There are still more out there to be counted and until they are, we won’t know the final outcome of this election,” she wrote.

As of 10 p.m. on election night, Patterson had 50% of the vote to Boles’ 45.9% of 60,372 votes counted.

Senate District 10, the district Boles and Patterson are competing in, includes portions of Marion and Polk counties.

Polk County had several hundred ballots left to process and count. Some of them included ballots with signatures issues that still needed to be resolved.

In Marion County there are over 31,574 ballots left to count. Those also include ballots with signature issues.

Democrats hold a 18-12 majority in the Senate. The Senate District 10 race was considered one of just a few that could tip the chamber’s composition.

In the Bend area, Republican Sen. Tim Knopp appeared to be hanging on to his seat with 50.7% of the vote to Democrat Eileen Kiely’s 49%. In a south coast race, Republican Dick Anderson was ahead with 49.3% of the vote to Democrat Melissa Cribbins’ 46.5%.

  Contact reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.

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