Portland, Oregon’s First Ranked-Choice Election

In November 2022, Portland voters passed a historic charter reform measure. It increased the number of commissioners from four to 12, with three from each of four geographic districts. And it changed how these commissioners, and the mayor, would be elected, instituting ranked-choice voting—and calling for everything to be in place before this fall’s election. What followed was a high-speed public process to draw the new districts and school voters on the ins and outs of voting for multiple candidates in a single race. Ambitious? You bet. People are definitely curious, says Deborah Scroggin of the City Elections Office. “We have launched voter and candidate education campaigns that seek to reach Portlanders more broadly as well as harder-to-reach Portlanders,” Scroggin says, “including those that have historically been left out of city decision-making.”

58.1% Share of Portland voters who passed the charter reform measure in 2022.

728 Days between the measure’s passage and the first ranked-choice-voting election.

6 Candidates a voter can select, in order of preference, in city council and mayor races.

163,000 Approximate voters in each new city council district.

61% Share of District 2 voters (North/Northeast) who are registered Democrats, the most of any district.

$210,000 Amount awarded to community groups by the Portland Votes 2024 Grant Program, for voter education and outreach.

2021 Year of New York City’s first ranked-choice mayor’s election.

8 Ranked-choice rounds it took for Eric Adams to be elected NYC mayor.

37.7% Turnout in Multnomah County for the May 2024 primary election.

81.8% Turnout in Multnomah County for the November 2020 general election.