Curry County Commissioner Court Boice and former emergency services manager Jeremy Dumire were the Oregon Republican Party’s top two choices when it comes to filling the vacant State Representative District 1 seat.

Gold Beach Mayor Karl Popoff and Denesa Rains, of Myrtle Point, rounded out the list of candidates the Republican Party nominated for the position held State Sen. David Brock-Smith (R-Port Orford) until Jan. 13.

Commissioners from Coos, Curry and Douglas counties will hold a meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday to choose Brock-Smith’s replacement. Coos County Commissioner Robert Main will chair the meeting, according to an email sent from Lydia Plukchi, compliance specialist for the Oregon Secretary of State, to commissioners in the three counties.

Each county is entitled to one vote per 1,000 of its electors. Coos and Curry will each have 19 votes and Douglas County will have 18 votes, according to Plukchi’s letter.

Each commissioner has a weighted vote with Curry and Coos county commissioners receiving 6.33 points and Douglas County commissioners receiving 6 points , Plukchi told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Tuesday.

When asked about Boice’s role in the process — since he is one of the nominees — Plukchi said the Oregon Secretary of State’s office was looking into whether he can participate in Thursday’s virtual meeting as a voting member.

“There’s no provision in statute that prohibits that,” Plukchi said. “We don’t have a definite answer right now because legal counsel is looking at that and trying to see what’s going on. She’s supposed to get back to me either this afternoon or tomorrow morning and then we’ll communicate that to Court Boice.”

According to Plukchi, the Republican Party was able to select 3-5 nominees for commissioners to choose from because Brock-Smith is a Republican.

“If David Brock-Smith was a Democrat only the Democratic Party would get to pick a candidate,” Plukchi told the Outpost.

On Jan. 13, commissioners from Curry, Coos and Douglas counties appointed Brock-Smith to replace Dallas Heard as the Senate District 1 representative. Heard resigned from his position Jan. 1.

The State Rep District 1 meeting will be held from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Thursday in the Owen Building, 201 N. Adams in Coquille. People can also participate online by visiting meet.goto.com/180791589.

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