Voters decide the future of Portland’s city government in less than seven weeks, and they’ll notice a few changes to this year’s ballot when it arrives. That’s because voters will use ranked-choice voting, or RCV, to elect the mayor, city auditor and 12 City Council members in four newly created geographic districts.
Portland will join more than 50 jurisdictions nationwide using RCV after voters approved the change in 2022 as part of the broader Portland City Charter reform initiative updating Portland’s form of government. It will also become the largest city using RCV to elect its City Council.
2024 Elections Coverage:
• Portland City Council
• Multnomah County Commissioners
• Oregon Attorney General
• Portland Mayor
Multnomah County voters will use RCV to elect the county chair, county commissioners, auditor and sheriff beginning in 2026.
What is RCV?
In an RCV system, voters rank candidates in order of preference rather than selecting a single candidate.
Typically, this means ranking candidates in order of first choice, second choice, third choice and so on. Votes are counted in a series of rounds to determine which candidate wins. In Portland’s system, a candidate needs to reach a 50% or 25% threshold plus one vote to be declared a winner, depending on the race.
In each round, either a winning candidate is identified and elected because they reach the threshold, or the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who ranked that eliminated candidate as their first choice will still have their votes counted for their other choices until a winner is elected.
The rounds continue until a candidate — or candidates in the City Council districts — reaches the threshold and is declared the winner.
Voters can still write in a candidate and rank them. If voters skip a rank, their next ranked choice is considered their subsequent choice.
The RCV system resulting in a single winner — which requires a 50% threshold plus one vote — will be used in the 2024 Portland mayoral election.
RCV advocates say this process allows voters to vote honestly because they don’t have to worry about their vote being “wasted.” The change often increases the number of women and people of color being elected, according to advocates.
Melanie Billings-Yu, chair of the League of Women Voters of Portland’s RCV team, said critics oppose RCV for the same reasons advocates support it.
“Ranked choice voting is not popular among lobbyists or political parties because they lose control over what the voter can do,” Billings-Yu said. “The great thing about ranked-choice voting is that I can vote honestly for whoever I want if I want to vote for you.”
How will RCV work in the City Council races?
For the City Council races, voters will use a version of RCV called multi-winner ranked choice voting to elect three new City Council members from each of the four newly created geographic districts. In total, voters will elect 12 new City Council members who reach a 25% threshold plus one vote.
In other words, three seats are available in each district, and an individual’s vote will go toward one candidate. Voters still rank candidates in order of preference and the same rules also apply: in each round of tabulated votes, a candidate either reaches the threshold and wins or is eliminated until a candidate reaches the threshold.
Remember, a candidate only needs to exceed the threshold by one vote. So let’s say your first choice reaches the threshold on the first round of tabulations. Don’t worry, your vote is still being counted.
Your first choice will only keep the votes needed to win. Extra votes, also known as surplus votes, will go towards your second choice. The cycle continues until a third winner is chosen.
Think of it like this: In a hypothetical pizza party, four tables can order 3 pizzas each. They rank their preferences. Most people get a slice they love or like, and the outlier who picks an unpopular choice at the top of their list still likely gets their second or third choice.
Advocates of the measure establishing the new geographic districts say this ensures Portlanders feel their elected City Council members reflect and accurately represent their community.
Wait, I have a City Council district?
Yes, Portland voters will elect City Council members based on geographic districts for the first time. The Charter reform resulted in four new districts.
Created by the Independent District Commission and community input, the districts consider common community interests and similar socioeconomic status, school districts, existing geographic and political boundaries and transportation corridors.
District 1, covering much of outer-east, Southeast and Northeast Portland, includes the airport, Northeast Marine Drive, everything east of Interstate 205, and everything east of Southeast 82nd Avenue south of Southeast Division Street.
District 2 includes North Portland, St. Johns, inner-Northeast north of Interstate 84, and a portion of Northeast Portland west of Northeast 82nd Avenue.
District 3 includes inner-Southeast Portland stretching to the eastern boundary of Montavilla north of Southeast Holgate Boulevard. It also includes the Woodstock, Mt. Scott-Arleta and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods.
District 4 encompasses neighborhoods west of the Willamette River and Southeast Portland neighborhoods Sellwood-Moreland, Eastmoreland and Reed.
When will we get results?
Billings-Yu said voters should be prepared for other changes. The results are going to take a little longer than usual. However, this change has nothing to do with RCV but a law passed in 2021 that allows Oregon voters to mail their ballots on Election Day as long as it’s postmarked by 8 p.m.
On Nov. 5 at 8 p.m., Multnomah County, which tabulates results for its cities, including Portland, plans to report preliminary round-by-round results for all RCV races. However, it’s important to note these results are not final and are likely to change as the rounds play out if winners don’t emerge quickly.
Another update of round-by-round results is expected by 6 p.m. Nov. 7 and on Dec. 2, election results are certified and final.
Process for multi-winner rank choice voting
View the graphs below to see how your votes get counted.
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This article appears in September 25, 2024.