Officeholders nix eight rankings for six.
Portland's City Council passes new election code, opting for a ballot with six candidate rankings per office.
This morning, Portland’s City Council passed a new election code, ushering in ranked choice voting as Bridgetown’s official voting method.
The code change, prompted by voter-approved government reform, came with a bit of a last-minute twist.
Officeholders ultimately landed on a ballot design with six candidate rankings, despite the Auditor’s recommendation of eight.
In a brief but historic vote this morning, Portland’s City Council approved a new election code. The change marks a milestone for City Hall’s implementation of the sweeping municipal reforms passed by Rose City voters last November.
While City Council’s greenlight was unanimous, several officeholders are on the record as skeptics of Portland’s new system. Mayor Wheeler and three out of four city commissioners opposed the ballot measure that prompted the code change.
Mapps: “Does anyone actually understand the math?”
During a contentious first reading of the code last Wednesday, council members decried the complexity of the new electoral system.
At one point in the hearing, Commissioner Mingus Mapps asked Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott if anybody at his office “actually understood the math” associated with single transferable vote, the voting method chosen for Portland’s city council elections.
Fortunately for voters, Mr. Scott’s answer was an unequivocal yes.
Despite the City Council’s pointed critique last week, no amendments were offered, and today’s vote was over in minutes.
“I recognize this is a technical amendment,” City Commissioner Dan Ryan said, although the code included multiple policy decisions, such as the number of rankings available to voters.
“I also want to put on the record my encouragement for the county to identify politically agnostic groups to provide education to Portlanders about ranked choice voting,” he added, saying he wouldn’t support a contract unless it met that criterion.
Rankings flip from eight to six.
Under the new code, Portlanders will be able to rank up to six candidates for each city office. And yes, that number is different from the recommendation released by the Auditor’s Office last month.
“At the conclusion of our research and collaboration with key stakeholders, the Auditor’s recommendation to the mayor and commissioners was to allow eight rankings,” Becky Lamboley, Interim Election Officer at the Auditor’s Office, told Rose City Reform.
Lamboley confirmed that the Auditor’s recommendation hadn’t changed, but that the City Council preferred six rankings.
“Our office determined that this was a policy choice for City Council to make, and we believe six rankings is a reasonable choice,” Lamboley said.
Rose City Reform asked Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott if lowering the number of rankings might result in any cost savings.
“We don't yet have enough information about how ranked choice voting contests will lay out on our software to determine if six rankings will be significantly more efficient than eight in terms of ballot layout and design,” Scott replied.
Six rankings align with best practice guidelines.
Chris Hughes, a ranked choice voting expert who consults for the City of Portland, last week told council members that most voters are comfortable with five to eight rankings.
Hughes, who serves as Policy Director of the nonprofit Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center, also noted that most voters don’t use all their available rankings. Only a minority of voters continue to rank beyond the fifth ranking, and some prefer not to rank at all, he concluded.
In today’s meeting, council members didn’t elaborate on why they chose six over eight. The City’s transition team was unavailable for comment.
However, based on City Council’s interchange with staff last week, avoiding voter confusion and fatigue appears to have been a top priority.
To that effect, the new election code actually requires City Hall to invest in voter education. The City of Portland currently has an open request for proposals worth approximately $675,000 to educate Portlanders about both ranked choice voting and district-based elections.
Of course, Rose City Reform will make sure to do its part as well.
