Reform is coming to the City of Roses.
Portland repeals its form of government – and ushers in proportional representation.
Portland voters want change. Big change.
In a historic vote, the Rose City said yes to a new form of government, a new district system, and a new way of electing city officials.
That’s big news both locally and nationally, because Portland could now become a trailblazer for proportional representation.
Last night, Portland repealed its form of government.
For almost 120 years, the City of Roses has used what’s called the “commission form of government”, a Progressive Era relic that puts individual city commissioners in charge of city bureaus. Despite being almost universally rejected as bad city governance, the system has survived eight reform attempts in Portland.
Until last night.
That’s when Measure 26-228, a comprehensive municipal overhaul, captured 58% of the vote.
What’s in the reform package?
It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of the coming reforms.
Here’s a far from conclusive breakdown:
In November of 2024, Portland will elect a new city government under the reformed system. A new city council, mayor and auditor will take office in 2025.
Council will expand from five to twelve members. The mayor will no longer serve on council, but can step in as a tiebreaker.
Council will be legislative only. Executive power will be vested in the mayor, and a professional city administrator will supervise bureaus.
Portland will be divided into four city council districts, to be drawn by an independent commission. Each district will elect three representatives.
Mayor and auditor will continue to be elected citywide.
There will be no primary elections. All voting will happen in November general elections, and district elections will be staggered, so that half of City Council is elected every two years.
Elections will be carried out via instant runoff ranked choice voting for mayor and auditor, and single transferable vote for City Council.
Did you catch all that?
Good, because there’s more.
A big win for proportional representation.
The results of yesterday’s election didn’t just matter to Portlanders.
Reformers across the nation are paying attention.
With the passage of Measure 26-228, the Rose City will join the growing number of jurisdictions conducting elections by ranked choice voting, but it also did something no major city in the United States has tried since the first half of the 20th Century.
Portland said yes to proportional representation.
That’s a big win for the national election reform movement, many of whom view proportional representation as the recipe for fixing U.S. Congress.
For many Portlanders, election reform may not have been a prominent reason, or a reason at all, to vote yes on Measure 26-228. They could very well have been swayed by the promise of professional city administration, or the return of geographic representation, paying little attention to the proposed voting method.
Be that as it may, Portland’s electoral system is now national news, as evidenced by celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence taking an interest in Portland charter reform, and out-of-state donors funding the ‘yes campaign’ on Measure 26-228.
How will Portland’s proportional council work?
Unlike the winner-takes-all system that Portland has today, proportional representation (PR) is designed to also enable representation for subgroups of voters.
Under “PR”, the majority still elects seats, it just can’t elect all of the seats all of the time.
How's that going to work in Portland?
Remember how council will have twelve members but only four districts? That’s because each district will elect three representatives each.
With our new voting method, single transferable vote (STV), candidates for City Council will need to secure 25%+1 of the district vote to be elected. The third highest vote-getter will get a seat whether or not they clear the threshold.
The goal is that between those three seats, a much higher share of voters than a simple majority will see at least one candidate they voted for get elected.
Read my primer on single transferable vote.
The countdown to 2024 begins.
The to-do list will be long for the City of Portland and the Multnomah County Elections Office between now and Election Day, 2024.
An independent districting commission will be appointed to draw the districts in time for candidates to meet filing deadlines. A salary commission will be formed to set salaries for city council representatives. Multnomah County needs to procure tabulation software to conduct ranked choice voting elections. A city transition team will take on the heavy-lifting of preparing city bureaus for the new government structure, and City Council will need to approve plans and details as they go.
The Charter Commission didn’t call it comprehensive change for nothing.
The process over the last two years was the prequel.
Now, truly, begins the story.
In other election news:
Multnomah County, Oregon’s biggest county that encompasses the City of Portland, passed ranked choice voting for county elections, becoming the largest jurisdiction in the Pacific Northwest to do so. This means most Portland voters will use ranked ballots for both city and county elections.
Rene Gonzalez has defeated incumbent Jo Ann Hardesty for Portland City Council. Gonzalez will not serve a full term, since all seats will now be up for election in 2024.
In Seattle, a measure to pass ranked choice voting for primary elections is too close to call.
A state constitutional amendment to establish a final five voting system is ahead in Nevada. Track results here.
Thanks for this comprehensive and easy-to-digest summary Maja. I'm very interest to watch how proportional representation unfolds. This is a system that I believe the UK would greatly benefit from.