The ballots are counted, voter turnout is confirmed, and the result is unmistakable. In the Josephine County special election held January 6, 2026, a total of 19,246 residents cast ballots in the recall contest, with 19,224 votes officially tallied on the recall election. Of those counted ballots, 12,101 voters selected yes to recall County Commissioner Chris Barnett, representing 62.95% of the vote, while 7,123 voters selected no, representing 37.05%. The decisive margin, delivered through robust public participation, removed Barnett from office within his first year as commissioner and affirmed a clear message from the electorate that county leadership must reflect transparency and public trust.
Oregon recall law allows residents to petition for the removal of elected officials when enough verified signatures are gathered. Once the County Clerk certifies those signatures, the official targeted by recall is granted five days to either resign or submit a Statement of Justification, using Elections Division Form SEL 352, which then appears on the special election ballot. The Josephine County recall process followed that path precisely, though the final weeks of 2025 revealed unexpected complications over how the justification statement was prepared and filed.
One of the first signs of public friction involving Barnett’s tenure surfaced during the 2024 campaign season. In the Fall of 2024, Barnett sued this newspaper for reporting the truth about his past elder abuse case, the current Supreme Court $4.8 million judgment against him, and other issues. Another instance that stands out occurred when Barnett wrote a social media post insulting longtime community member Keith Heck and asking who he was. The comment drew particular attention because Heck had served a term as a Josephine County Commissioner roughly ten years earlier and had been the Executive Director of the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission before entering public office. That overlap illustrated that well-known figures in county civic life were not always treated with the respect or recognition many voters expected.
Barnett took office in January 2025 promising a fresh perspective, but the first Board of Commissioners meeting of the year set a different tone. At that session he joined outgoing Commissioner John West in a vote to cancel the long-standing lease for the Grants Pass library branch. The decision surprised residents because the Josephine County Charter requires commissioners to maintain and support library branches. A few months later one of Barnett’s independently operated Facebook pages carried paid advertising that criticized the library lease as financially unfair. Library advocates countered that more than $40 million in local property taxes had been redirected away from county libraries since funding was cut in 2007 and that the county obligation to support libraries remained intact regardless of cost. Nine months of public debate followed, and the eventual negotiation of a new lease did not erase memories that the controversy began with a vote Barnett had supported.
In February 2025 the Board approved a DOGE-style county employee buyout program designed to reduce payroll costs. The initiative moved forward without any formal analysis of the financial pros and cons. Public records later confirmed that the program produced more than $700,000 in severance payments. Most of the positions vacated through the buyouts were eventually filled again in some fashion. The practical outcome led many residents to question whether the county was truly facing the financial crisis commissioners described. Independent budget reports showed Josephine County in the strongest economic position it had experienced in more than a decade, due in large part to voter approval of a new Law Enforcement Services District in November 2023. That district brought approximately $5.5 million per year in new dedicated property tax revenue for public safety.
The Law Enforcement District campaign of 2023 created its own set of expectations. During that election, Sheriff officials promised the addition of 27 new staff members if the district was approved. Two years later, only 11 newly budgeted employees had actually been added to the Sheriff’s office. Even with those staffing shortfalls, Barnett continued to claim publicly that the Board had restored 24-hour Sheriff patrol and that justification language later appeared in his official SEL 352 filing. Subsequent records requests demonstrated that millions of general fund allocations had been shifted away from law enforcement during 2024 and 2025, contradicting assertions that millions were being saved each year. The disconnect between what voters were paying in new taxes and what they were receiving in services became a major point of dissatisfaction as the recall election approached.
The airport, board meetings, and public records arena produced still more concern. Roughly two months after taking office in 2025, Barnett created several online news-style Facebook pages bearing names that closely resembled established media outlets. At nearly the same time, the Grants Pass Tribune requested formal media credentials to attend Board of Commissioners executive sessions. After the request became public, commissioners suspended the county media policy and stopped holding executive sessions altogether. The action increased county legal risk because executive sessions are the only lawful mechanism for commissioners to meet together privately to discuss sensitive legal, personnel, and property transaction matters. The practical effect was that perceived snubbing of a fast-growing local newspaper appeared to become more important to Barnett than normal county procedure.
Throughout 2025 Barnett’s network of Facebook pages regularly discussed county business and engaged directly with residents. Multiple complaints were filed alleging harassment, retaliation, deletion of comments, and improper blocking of citizens from accessing public forums. The allegations cited overlap with existing Oregon statutes and with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that prevent public officials from censoring critics on social media platforms used to conduct government business. Investigations into those complaints remain unresolved.
Another major controversy unfolded inside the Board of Commissioners office during late Summer 2025. After recall petitions were filed in late August targeting both Commissioner Barnett and Commissioner Blech, Barnett and allies released a three-page whitepaper defending their record. Independent reviews showed the document contained multiple false statements and blamed the recall on national and local left-wing political groups that had no involvement. Formal complaints were later filed with the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division challenging the truthfulness of that published material.
The public works department became a persistent source of scrutiny as well. During 2024 and 2025 the Board fired an existing Public Works Director and replaced him with two new managers, a change that ultimately cost the county more money rather than less. A separate BOLI claim alleging age discrimination was filed against Barnett in connection with the public interview process for one of those managers. The allegation reinforced perceptions that ethical and statutory requirements were not always being followed in personnel matters.
The final weeks of 2025 produced an unexpected timeline battle involving Barnett’s official Statement of Justification. Oregon law strictly requires SEL 352 forms to be submitted by 5pm on the fifth day after signatures are certified. On Sunday evening, December 7, 2025, Barnett emailed the County Clerk to verify the 5pm Monday deadline. At 7:49am on December 8th the Clerk again confirmed the legal cutoff. Later at 11:23am Barnett emailed to say he would have his statement in by 5pm, and the Clerk confirmed that the form could simply be sent by email.
At 2:41pm on December 8th Barnett submitted a 207-word version that exceeded the 200-word maximum. The Clerk responded promptly warning that seven words would need to be cut or the filing would be truncated. Close to one hour later Barnett submitted a corrected version within the limit. The next morning, December 9th, Barnett attempted to file a newly amended statement, sending at least four urgent emails between 4am and 7am urging acceptance. Just before 10am the Clerk replied appropriately that state law prevented her from accepting any amendment after the 5pm deadline on December 8th.
Independent records requests later confirmed that the affidavit language Barnett tried to submit on December 9th was unsigned and alleged to have been turned in December 8th, even though no corrected SEL 352 forms were received by email or delivered in person before the legal deadline. The practical result was that justification language appearing on the January 2026 ballot continued to carry statements later challenged as false.
Barnett became the focus of serious new allegations as the 2025 year drew to a close. A signed and notarized affidavit along with evidence filed in Josephine County Circuit Court on December 24, 2025, claimed that Barnett committed crimes around May 2025, actions that were partially tied to his role as a sitting county commissioner. The filing sought a Stalking Protective Order after an alleged December 22, 2025, road rage incident, and it disclosed that Barnett was already under criminal investigation by the Grants Pass Police Department and the Department of Justice in what was described as a Pattern of Coercion and Harassment. According to the sworn affidavit, Barnett allegedly attempted to bribe a local citizen with financial gifts and the promise of county employment in exchange for making false and defamatory statements about Grants Pass Tribune owner and publisher John Oliver Riccio, including claims that Riccio had been physically or sexually abusive. The new allegations surfaced amid long-running political and legal battles between Barnett, former Commissioner John West, and the Grants Pass Tribune, and they quickly became a flash point in the final weeks before the January 6, 2026 recall election. Law enforcement investigations continue, and under Oregon and federal law, the matter remains subject to the standard principle of innocent until proven guilty.
After Christmas 2025 another dispute emerged when Barnett emailed legally ineffective cease-and-desist orders to at least four local citizens without using an attorney. The recipients requested multiple times that Barnett cite specific comments of concern. No specific citations were ever provided, reinforcing perceptions that the emails were yet another bully tactic.
The January 6, 2026 recall election allowed voters to evaluate all of these overlapping matters at once. The final result showed that dissatisfaction with Barnett’s leadership, his handling of timelines, public assets, libraries, law enforcement promises, and social media conduct was sufficient to trigger removal within his first year in office.
This recall election did more than remove a single official. It showed that both the Josephine County Charter and Oregon statutes carry meaningful consequences when a sufficient number of residents conclude that their leadership has strayed off course.
Ron Smith is now the remaining commissioner, having recused himself from participation in the recall process. Under established county rules, the next step advances to a committee composed of locally elected representatives who are charged with selecting replacements for Seat One and for the position formerly held by Barnett. While the vote does not immediately settle every investigation or dispute that unfolded during 2025, it affirms a simpler and more durable reality. On January 6, 2026, Josephine County voters evaluated the record of Chris Barnett and exercised their authority to determine the county’s direction by turning the page on his tenure.