Elections Officer Lysa Vattimo says five candidates running for Mayor is the most ever in this elected-volunteer spot. “Especially a mayoral position is truly a leadership position for their community. They can look back at the projects they help implement and the connections they made for their community and that kind of thing that have helped benefit and grow their community, right? So that’s their reward, it’s not a monetary one."

Vattimo says five people running for Mayor is a record. “I tried to reach back to the historians here in town and ask them if they had any specifics, right, on the numbers of people running for this office, because I couldn’t find anything here on file. Nobody had anything specific but they all agreed 'wow it does seem like this is the most we’ve ever had run'.”

All 5 are first time mayoral candidates. “We’ve had incumbents the last few years and what I’ve seen in my short time here is just two people, and typically one of them is off the council. And from the people that are running, none of them have sat in this mayoral position before,” said Vattimo.

In addition to the five mayoral candidates, three others are running for City Council. 

The Madras ballot also includes a measure to ban psilocybin-related businesses.

The Deadline to register to Vote for the November Election is October 18th. Oregonians can check their voter registration online at the Secretary of State’s MY VOTE webpage.