HILLSBORO -- Republican Jeff Duyck will stop campaigning for the Oregon House District 29 seat while the secretary of state's office investigates a complaint that he does not live within district boundaries.
A woman experimenting with mapping technology on the Internet sent a letter on June 10 to the state office after she noticed Duyck's house was in District 26, which is just south of District 29 in the Forest Grove area.
District 29 includes Forest Grove, Cornelius and the southwest part of Hillsboro.
A Washington County spokesman acknowledged Wednesday that Duyck's residence is not within District 29 and attributed the error to a database inaccuracy.
Duyck said he relied on the county to place him in the correct district.
"They are right; I'm not in the district," he said. "But for the last seven years, they've told me I was."
About 126 acres of Duyck's property lie in District 29, said Shawn Swearingen, Duyck's campaign manager. The remaining 15 acres lie across the boundary line. But those 15 include Duyck's house, which is outside District 29 by less than 125 feet, Duyck said.
Oregon law states that "if a person's property is split by a jurisdictional line, the person shall be registered where the residence is located."
Duyck, 51, is a former farmer and business owner who is new to politics. He faced no Republican opposition in the May 20 primary.
Chuck Riley, a Democrat who currently represents House District 29, is running for re-election on the Nov. 4 ballot. In addition, former Cornelius Mayor Terry Rilling, now a member of the Independent Party, said previously that he plans to run for the seat this fall.
The secretary of state's office expects to reach a final decision on Duyck's eligibility in two or three weeks, said Norma Buckno, a compliance specialist in the state Elections Division. Duyck will have until July 16 to present additional information, but he is considering whether to do so.
Oregon's Republican leadership expressed outrage Wednesday over the mix-up. Nick Smith, a spokesman for the House GOP, said that at a minimum, it was "certainly incompetence" that this wasn't caught before.
"The county and the secretary of state had plenty of chances to make this right," Smith said.
If the Republican nomination for House District 29 becomes vacant, precinct officials will be able to choose another candidate. But it's expected to be hard to find a strong candidate at this point.
"The people of the state of Oregon have been ripped off in this, in that we would have had a good shot at a majority in the House, which would bring balance to Salem," Duyck said.
For now, Duyck is holding off campaigning because he thinks it's unfair to residents to continue running for a seat for which he might be ineligible, Swearingen said.
The Elections Division is reviewing aerial maps of Duyck's property in the 44700 block of Southwest Ritchey Road.
Washington County election officials had been checking Duyck's address with a database to verify his residency, spokesman Philip Bransford said.
The database showed it in House District 29. "That was an incorrect answer," Bransford said.
Election officials will check areas along the boundary for other potential mistakes, he said.
The state notified Duyck in a letter June 16 of the complaint regarding his residency.
Theresa Carter, a Forest Grove woman who first noticed the discrepancy, looked up Duyck's property online because she knew it straddled both districts and wanted to know where the boundary was.
Carter, who is a Democrat and Riley supporter, called her discovery accidental.
The county has confirmed Duyck's status as a District 29 resident multiple times. In mid-June, the secretary of state's office confirmed Duyck's candidacy as the Republican nominee.
He said he's lived at the same address for more than 16 years. "For the last seven years that I know of, I've been voting in the wrong place, in the wrong district for the wrong people," Duyck said.
Duyck has raised $65,153 in cash and in-kind contributions, according to state election records. Some of that money went toward pay for campaign officials, letterheads, signs and other costs.
"There's a lot of hopes, a lot of dreams and a lot of money just dashed," Duyck said. "Everything was just wasted."
Jeff Mapes of The Oregonian contributed to this report. Corey Paul: 503-294-5960; coreypaul@news.oregonian.com
