By Beatrice Liebrecht
As voters across the country gear up for another round of elections, Portland is making a significant stride in its electoral process. This November, Portland will debut ranked-choice voting, a departure from traditional single-candidate selection methods. With the mayor, auditor and city council positions up for grabs, Portlanders are about to embark on a new era of democratic engagement, where every vote contributes to a fairer outcome.
The voting process is carried out in stages to identify the winner. Each stage sees either the election of a victorious candidate or the removal of the least popular candidate, whose supporters then have their votes transferred to their next preference. This approach to ranked-choice voting ensures a single general election, thus eliminating a need for a run-off election.
While ranking your vote may initially seem complex, the City of Portland has been diligently working to inform and educate voters about this change since 2023. With the introduction of ranked-choice voting, portland.gov has organized various mock elections to help Portlanders grasp the new system.
Francisca Garfia, a member of the transition team and a partner of the City of Portland Elections Office on voter education work, highlighted the importance of participating in a mock election. She stated, “It’s an opportunity to understand what the ballot will look like and to practice ranking six options.” Garfia added, “We’ve heard from community members after they’ve taken a mock election that it’s not as hard as they expected and that ranked-choice voting makes much more sense! With the tool we’re using, there’s also a helpful explanation of what each round looks like, and it’s easy to track how votes shift as each candidate is eliminated.”
Despite this change coming in just a few months, the city has been working tirelessly to prepare the ballots for over a year. They’ve worked with community-based organizations, Multnomah County and city staff. The Government Transition Advisory Committee has already given over 150 presentations on transition and ranked-choice voting. Garfia also stated, “We encourage all Portlanders to try a mock election by going to portland.gov/vote and clicking on the box titled What is Ranked-Choice Voting.”
When it comes to the redistribution of votes, in a multi-winner election, winners must accumulate over 25 percent of the overall ballots cast; upon exceeding this benchmark, the excess votes are reallocated. When this happens, the system looks at who voters put in their next choice and shifts those extra votes to that option. This part of the process can also be described like this, as Garfia said, “Your favorite candidate won already, so your vote gets to go a little further and help your backups.”
The City of Portland is fully aware of the common misconceptions and misinformation surrounding this type of voting. Garfia reassured voters, saying, “As the election nears, we are monitoring mainstream media and social media and working quickly to correct any misinformation that we see. Keep an eye out for voter information with the official seal of the City, and always double check any information about the election.”
Some voters may be concerned about the ballot counting process or the timeline for knowing the results. However, ranked-choice voting will maintain the same timeline for certifying election results in the City of Portland. “In the November 2022 General Election, results were certified in early-mid December, and the same will be true this year,” Garfia continued.
The most significant challenge for voters is understanding that the results that come out on election night will look much different from what they are used to, and again, participating in these mock elections can help immensely. The more people participate in a mock election, the more they are used to seeing how multi-round results are displayed. The city’s commitment to correcting misinformation is aimed at reassuring voters and instilling confidence in the new voting process.
The commitment extends to education efforts in every neighborhood and in every way possible. They will give presentations on ranked-choice voting at large and small community events, host in-person and virtual town halls in September and October, and set up information tables across the city to ensure as many Portlanders as possible participate in a mock election. This commitment to community engagement aims to make every voter feel included and valued in the new democratic process.
Find upcoming events, voter education and candidate learning sessions at portland.gov/transition/events and portland.gov/vote/events.