The district’s CEO disputes one of the results and won’t pay his district’s share of election costs.
This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read’s Elections Division has opened an investigation of the Umpqua Public Transit District’s response to a hotly contested May election result.
“The Elections Division has reason to believe the Umpqua Public Transit District may have violated Oregon election law and an investigation into this matter was opened on July 29, 2025,” the division wrote in an email to district CEO Ben Edtl this week.
As the Oregon Journalism Project previously reported, Edtl and some of his board members dispute the outcome of one of the races for a board seat, in which challenger Nathasha Atkinson apparently defeated incumbent Todd Vaughn.
But Edtl and the transit board have not seated anyone in the contested race and have refused to pay the Douglas County clerk’s office for the district’s share of the cost of holding the election. Edtl says he refuses to pay because he doesn’t think the result is accurate.
In a June 30 letter to Douglas County Clerk Dan Loomis, Edtl wrote that he and the incumbent board “find the circumstances surrounding this race deeply concerning and unacceptable.”
Elections officials from other counties say they cannot recall a public body taking a similar position. And now, the state Elections Division says that position breaks Oregon law.
“The information considered indicates that the board is in violation of ORS 255.295 by failing to
determine the results for Umpqua Public Transit District, Director Position 4, following the May 20 election and ORS 255.305 by refusing to pay Douglas County for Umpqua Public Transit District’s share of costs associated with the May 20, 2025, special district election,” the email to Edtl says.
Edtl denies he and the transit board have done anything wrong.
“The Oregon Secretary of State has sworn an ethical and constitutional duty to ensure the integrity of our elections,” Edtl said. “Instead of prioritizing election integrity, Tobias Reed is directing state resources to protect (Douglas County Clerk Dan) Loomis by running interference. I won’t let them get away with it. As long as I’m the CEO of this district, I will protect the interests of the taxpayers by demanding the transparency and accountability they’re fighting like hell to block.”
Edtl adds that he won’t pay the bill for the election until Douglas County Elections provides an itemized list of expenses; he believes the transit district is being overcharged.
Vaughn, the apparent loser in the May 20 election, has challenged the result in Douglas County Circuit Court as well. Vaughn argues that he was ahead on election night but saw his 1.2-percentage-point lead May 20 dwindle to a 1.36-point defeat eight days later, with no reporting in between.
“To gain this lead, Atkinson won nearly 55% of the votes counted after election day,” Vaughn says in an amended petition for review filed July 28.
Although it’s common for election results to shift as late ballots come in, Young and his attorney, Stephen Joncus, argue that people in high places were aligned against him.
“There is a contingent of powerful established politicians who do not want to see Vaughn win any election,” the complaint says.
In his response to Vaughn’s initial petition, Clerk Loomis denied there were any irregularities with the election. He and the Douglas County Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Vaughn’s amended petition.
In the meantime, the transit board is at a standstill. Its last meeting, held July 21, ended abruptly after about 20 minutes after Edtl clashed with board members. When Edtl insisted on speaking, board member Bill Hagedorn urged him to be quiet, telling Edtl, “You are our employee. We are not your employees.”
Edtl didn’t take that direction. He insisted on explaining his understanding of the pending court challenge to the board. “You’ve already wasted enough time,” he told the new board chair, Jeana Beam. “I want you to understand something you do not understand.”
At that point, Hagedorn and Beam walked out. “If you’re not going to be civil, I’m going to adjourn and we’ll pick this up at a later date,” Beam said.
Edtl, a political consultant from Tualatin who is also the co-petitioner for a ballot measure that would end vote-by-mail in the state, says he expects the board will fire him if Atkinson, the apparent winner, is seated. He believes the other board members are split 3–3 on his continued leadership of the district, which hired him as permanent CEO in April.
Vaughn’s court challenge of the election result is set for a status conference Aug. 8 at 9:30 am at the Douglas County Courthouse in Roseburg.