By Nancy Hiser
According to www.fairvote.org, Portland is joining the fastest growing voting reform in the nation by adopting Ranked Choice Voting. RCV supporters argue that our “choose one” elections deprive voters of meaningful choices and advance candidates who lack broad support. But, make no mistake, the system is not easy to understand.
What are some benefits?
Voters can vote for more than one candidate and in order of their preference. It eliminates primaries and runoff elections. It also eliminates the spoiler effect where two candidates split the vote, and unintentionally contributes to a third candidate winning. Last, this system often results in candidates who mirror the diverse preferences of voters within one district.
How does this work?
For Portland, the objective is to elect the three candidates who have the strongest support in each of the newly created four (4) districts in Portland. Linnton is in District #4, covering everything west of the Willamette River and the Sellwood neighborhood.
If the city council candidate you select as your top choice does not reach a 25% threshold in the first round, your second-choice candidate will be moved up to the top choice position. When a candidate gets more than 25% of the eligible votes in that district, they will win a seat.
If three candidates reach the 25% threshold in the first round, they are elected. If the first round does not elect three winners, rankings are used to identify the next candidates with the most support.
And, if one candidate gets more votes than they need on the first round, and there are still seats to be filled, the winning candidate’s excess votes are re-distributed to the next highest ranked candidate on each ballot. So, if your first-choice wins with a surplus of votes, your second choice could get a boost in the standings.
Because you can vote for more than one person, you can rank up to six candidates for city council but see suggestions–you may not want to.
The mayor and auditor candidates will win if they receive more than 50% of the first-choice votes. If no candidate gets this 50%+ majority, the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated, and their votes are then transferred to the second choice.
Suggestions
It is wise to consult voter guides to make the choices that best match your personal opinions. By studying platforms, voters can improve their representation.
Vote only for those candidates who you want to represent you, even if that means voting for fewer than six.
Want more understanding?
See Rose city reforms candidate tracker for information about all your election choices – https://rosecityreform.org/candidates/.
Read a helpful article in the Portland Mercury – https://tinyurl.com/ycy473v4.
Check out www.fairvote.org for a 1 ½ minute video that should help you understand the system better. RCV FACTS are also available on YouTube.
NOTE: Multnomah county will also adopt Ranked Choice Voting in 2026.