Ranked Choice Voting in Oregon
Oregon is also already using ranked choice voting. Corvallis and Benton County use ranked choice voting for their local elections, and both Portland and Multnomah County voters recently passed ranked choice voting ballot measures, with first use in 2024 and 2026, respectively.
Benton County
Benton County was the first jurisdiction in Oregon to adopt ranked choice voting. In 2016, Benton County voters adopted ranked choice voting to elect county officials, and first used ranked choice voting in the 2020 election.
Using ranked choice voting, Benton County has seen third-party candidates run for office without fear of serving as spoilers. The vast majority of voters chose to rank at least two choices, demonstrating that voters understand ranked choice voting and find it easy to use.
Corvallis
The City of Corvallis’ City Council adopted ranked choice voting in 2022 and started using it the same year for races with three or more candidates.
Ranked choice voting allowed Corvallis voters to rank their preferred candidates in the three-way 2022 mayoral race between Charles Maughan, Andrew Struthers, and Roen Hogg. After the first round tabulations, there was no clear winner, with Maughan leading with roughly 40% of the vote. With ranked choice voting, second choices came into play and Charles Maughan won the race, proving to be the preferred candidate by the majority of voters with over 50% of the votes.
Since they started using ranked choice voting, both Benton County and Corvallis have seen more candidates run for office without fear of being spoilers, meaning that they can run for office without the concern of taking votes away from like-minded candidates. Both Corvallis’ mayoral race and Ward 9 city council race in 2022 attracted three strong candidates. Voters got to express their true preferences, by ranking the candidates on their ballots, while ranked choice voting ensured that the candidate with the broadest support won. Voters like the power and choices that ranked choice voting provides: 95% of voters marked a second choice in Corvallis' mayoral race.
Multnomah County
Ranked choice voting passed overwhelmingly in Multnomah County, 69% voting “Yes” in the November 2022 election.
Starting in 2026, Multnomah County voters will be able to rank their preferred candidates in order of preference and county officers will be elected in one, single election, instead of having two expensive elections–a primary and a runoff. Elections will take place in a single ranked choice voting election in November – when more people turn out to vote.
Portland
Portland voters also overwhelmingly approved changes to their city government by 58% in the November 2022 election. These changes include implementing geographic districts, expanding the City Council from 4 to 12 members, and utilizing ranked choice voting for local elections.
Portland will use both single-winner and multi-winner ranked choice voting, which is a form of proportional representation. Single-winner ranked choice voting will be used to elect the Mayor and City Auditor. Multi-winner ranked choice voting, or proportional representation, will be used in the City Council races, where three winning candidates from each of the four City Council districts will be elected. The voter experience for both single-winner and multi-winner races will be the same: voters will have the option to rank up to six candidates in order of preference.
The City of Portland is leading ranked choice voting implementation efforts and is releasing regular updates throughout the process. Stay up to date with the transition on the City’s website.
