Two weeks after primary, Clackamas County almost done counting ballots

Two weeks after the May 17 election, Clackamas County is nearly done counting ballots. 

The county had fewer than 5,000 ballots left to count Tuesday morning after dozens of county employees took shifts copying defective ballots by hand over Memorial Day weekend. More than 3,600 of the remaining ballots still need to be duplicated.

Delays in Clackamas County, the third-largest in the state, meant voters waited more than a week after the election to learn that seven-term Democratic Congressman Kurt Schrader lost his seat and that the race to lead the state Bureau of Labor and Industries will continue to a November runoff because no candidates received a majority of the vote. 

Only one race, the 38th House District, remains too close to call. Neelam Gupta, director of clinical support, integration and workforce at the Oregon Health Authority, led Portland restaurateur Daniel Nguyen by just two votes on Tuesday morning. The district, which includes portions of Multnomah and Clackamas counties, is overwhelmingly Democratic. 

All counties have until June 13 to certify the election