Klamath County Patrol Sergeant Shane Mitchell secured a large portion of the votes, 37.53% as of Tuesday night’s preliminary results. None of the other candidates have received over 15% of the vote so far.
That means Mitchell, who is also an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes, is the clear first-place winner for the race for Klamath County Sheriff. Seven people were running to replace retiring Sheriff Chris Kaber.
Brian Bryson, an operations captain at the sheriff’s department, holds a narrow second place, with 13.72% of the vote. He’s trailed by just 73 votes by Sergeant Ryan Kaber, the son of the current sheriff.
Because the sheriff’s position is non-partisan, a candidate needs to win over 50% of the vote in the primary to avoid a runoff election in November. That means Mitchell will face one other candidate later this year, which, according to preliminary results, is Bryson.
Retiring Sheriff Chris Kaber was involved in a long fight with county commissioners over ethics and the management of his two sons, who also work at the department.
A complaint filed with the state Government Ethics Commission was dismissed last week after a nearly year-long investigation.
Ballots are still being counted, and finalizing the vote could take until June 17, according to the Klamath County clerk. If a ballot was postmarked by election day, and arrives at the county clerk’s office within seven days of the election, it will still be counted.
