With voters who live in the City of Portland slated to see Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Elections on their ballot in November 2024, the Board of County Commissioners received updates on its rollout Tuesday, July 23.
Voters approved measures in November 2022 to require use of Ranked Choice Voting for City of Portland and Multnomah County candidate contests. Multnomah County contests will be decided using RCV starting November 2026.
While Ranked Choice Voting is new for Portland, it “is regularly used in elections across the country and around the world,” said Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, who opened the briefing. “Because of that, we know that Multnomah County Elections is following well-established best practices in Ranked Choice Voting election administration.”
Chair Vega Pederson noted that although the November 2024 Portland contests will look different, much will remain the same. “As in previous elections, voters will receive their ballot in the mail, fill in ovals to indicate their choice, and return their ballot by mail or in a drop box.”
Tuesday’s briefing informed the Board about the months of public engagement, much of it already underway, in the lead up to the November General Election, including voter education plans and mock elections designed to allow voters to experience the new method. Presenters also shared about the County’s rigorous preparation and testing process to ensure it can deliver accurate and reliable election results to voters.
“Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference instead of choosing only one candidate, said Tim Scott, director of Multnomah County Elections.
Single-winner Ranked Choice Voting is designed to elect one candidate with 50% plus 1 of the total votes, he said. This will be used for Portland Mayor and Auditor races this November and for County Commission seats in November 2026.
Multi-winner Ranked Choice Voting is designed to elect three candidates at the same time with 25% plus 1 of the total votes, which will be exclusively used for Portland City Council candidate contests in each of the four geographic districts, said Scott.
“We’re in the midst of preparing for City of Portland contests in November while also laying the groundwork for successfully implementing RCV for County contests in 2026,” said Scott.
Portland City Charter requires that RCV commence in November 2024. Multomah County Home Rule Charter requires the use of single-winner Ranked Choice Voting for all County elected offices starting no later than the November 2026 General Election.
Chair Vega Pederson shared that anyone could practice using a Ranked Choice Voting sample ballot virtual exercise.
“This is an exciting time for voters, and it’s time to learn more about this process,” said Chair Vega Pederson. “For all of us, now is our chance to begin familiarizing ourselves with Ranked Choice Voting and to practice ranking our votes.”
Ranked Choice Voting Project Manager Leah Benson provided an overview of several milestones the Elections Division and jurisdictional partners have passed since voters elected to switch to Ranked Choice Voting:
- In early 2023, the City of Portland engaged the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center as a consultant and worked with Multnomah County to develop an updated code.
- In October 2023, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved an intergovernmental agreement with Washington and Clackamas counties for the coordinated administration of City of Portland Ranked Choice Voting candidate contests. Multnomah County will provide ballot designs to both Washington and Clackamas counties and conduct central tabulation of all RCV ballot data.
- A memorandum of understanding established the intent for the City and County to collaborate on voter education.
“This is a large change and no small undertaking, but a lot of great work has already been done by staff at Elections and we’re on track and feeling very confident about the systems and procedures we have in place," said Benson.
How results will be reported
Results of RCV races will be reported in multiple formats so voters are offered different opportunities and ways to see and understand them. Elections results will be shared in three formats:
- A detailed tabulation report showing the full tabulation for each contest. This report will include every number calculated during tabulation and will be quite large.
- A clickable bar chart showing round-by-round results for each RCV contest.
- A summary table providing a simplified and easy-to-digest visual of round-by-round results
Clear Ballot Group, Multnomah County Elections longtime voting system software vendor, has developed an updated version of its program capable of counting single-and multi-winner RCV contests. RCV capabilities have been tested since January. The company worked with the federally accredited Voting System Test Laboratory to review its software, which Benson said is on track for certification this summer.
Timely, targeted and ballot-focused voter education
The Elections Division started collaborating closely with the City of Portland in March 2023 to develop an education and outreach plan that launched in early June 2024, Benson shared.
“We want to make sure education and outreach is timely when people are prepared to learn and will remember,” she said. “We don’t want to do it too far out in advance, but also not at times when it’s confusing, like before the May Primary Election when Ranked Choice Voting was not on the ballot.
The education campaigns started in June with ads and materials surfacing on the County’s and City’s respective websites as well as media.
“We also want to make sure our education is targeted, making sure we’re reaching the right people, with the right information, at the right time,” said Benson.
That means focusing on populations that have been traditionally underrepresented in voter turnout, including communities of color, low-income and houseless communities, and communities whose first language is not English.
“This is standard practice for our Voter Education and Outreach (VEO) Program, which is also reflective of best practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions using Ranked Choice Voting,” said Benson.
Targeted outreach, said Benson, also means “reaching the right people with the right amount of information. Not everyone wants to delve into the same amount of detail and we need to recognize and plan for that.”
Voters' primary concern is understanding how to express their choice on the ballot, Benson said, meaning that the division’s education efforts are focused squarely on filling out the ballot correctly. This is both a general best practice nationwide and rooted in research specific to Portland, Benson said.
In spring 2024, the City of Portland and VEO contractors hosted four professionally designed and led focus groups with a diverse cross-section of Portlanders. They found that “with clear instructions voters made seamless transitions to ranked choice ballots, and when participants were walked through a sample ballot exercise they did not appear intimidated or overly confused by the change after receiving education," said Benson.
“While it’s good to be able to explain the tabulation process in a straightforward way, if asked it did not seem important to participants that that information be offered.”
Scotty Sherington, a Voter Education and Outreach Senior Program Specialist, shared about the collaboration between the County’s VEO Program and the City of Portland. “From the very beginning we understood that our voters are City of Portland voters, and City of Portland voters are our voters.”
The Voter Education and Outreach Program focuses on communities that show the lowest voter participation in Multnomah County. The program built a map to help staff better understand who those communities are and designed initiatives based on voters who face additional barriers in a vote-by-mail system, such as voters in custody, voters without a residence and new voters.
“Our shared strategy was three-fold: broad, accessible and relevant to all,” said Sherington. “The materials are ballot focused so voters feel confident and can make corrections and know how to contact us if they need a replacement ballot.”
A newly released ballot-focused video, which includes an explanation of single winner RCV, walks voters through Ranked Choice Voting.
Additional educational materials like comic and color books are evergreen and will be a building block as the Elections Division continues to implement RCV over the next two years, said Sherington.
“We’re attending culturally specific events and working with organizations that are working with these communities already,” they said. “We’re also doing a significant amount of culturally specific media this fall, as well as reaching broad media.”
How does tabulation work?
Benson walked board members through both single-winner and multi-winner Ranked Choice Voting.
With single-winner Ranked Choice Voting, voters will use a grid-style ballot to rank up to six candidates. Candidates are eliminated and votes are transferred until one candidate crosses the threshold for election — 50% plus 1 vote, a majority of the votes. Vote transfers only come from eliminated candidates.
Multi-winner tabulation is similar in many ways with grid-style ballots, with voters able to rank up to six candidates. Candidates are eliminated and votes are transferred until three candidates cross the election threshold of 25% plus 1.
However, multi-winner vote transfers come from two sources: eliminated candidates and surplus votes.
Surplus votes come into play when any candidate reaches the threshold for election and has more votes than needed to win. When that happens, a fraction of every vote that went to them is shifted to the voter’s next choice. That fraction is based on a formula: the candidate’s total votes minus the election threshold (the surplus), which is then divided by the candidate’s total votes.
Benson cited an example from a hypothetical election. In an election with a threshold of 9,000 votes, candidate Sanae Smith gets 10,000 rank 1 votes and crosses the threshold in Round 1 of counting. She has received a surplus of votes. The surplus value can then be calculated:
- 10,000 (candidate’s total rank 1 votes) - 9,000 (election threshold) = 1,000 (surplus)
- 1,000 (surplus) ÷ 10,000 (candidate’s total rank 1 votes) = 0.1 (surplus value)
Using that calculation, every one of the 10,000 people who ranked Sanae first has 10% (the 0.1 surplus value) of their vote transferred to their next ranked candidate.
Benson said that the best way for people to learn is to practice using a mock election of Oregon sports teams that allows participants to rank votes. It also provides a visualization of voting rounds that shows the process.
“We’re looking for everyone to get involved,” said Benson. “Share any of these educational materials via social media or email; the comic, coloring book, ranked choice contest, all of which are on the website.”
Benson also encouraged community groups that hold events to invite the VEO.
Recount procedure
A hand recount procedure for multi-winner contests has been drafted. The Elections Division has “ been working very closely with the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center to test and refine the procedure,” said Benson.
Starting Monday, July 29, the County conducted a dayslong event to test and refine policies and procedures for hand-counting a recount for a multi-winner RCV election. National experts joined local and regional elections officials — including representatives from King County Elections in Washington and the Portland metro area — to participate and observe.
“We’ll be ready to perform a hand count of any ranked choice contest should we need to,” said Benson. “These procedures will also serve as a basis for our updated audit procedures.”
The new design of Ranked Choice Voting ballots will be finalized soon, Benson said. The final ballot layout will be based on best practices from other jurisdictions.
Commissioner remarks
Commissioners applauded the presentation as exceptional and clear, but also inquired about media education and results reporting.
“Good news is it’s not much different than what we do today, " said Scott, the division’s director.
Scott said several educational events have been held with journalists, including sessions with reporters from three different states who shared their experience with Ranked Choice Voting.
“Our goal is to make sure the media has all the tools they need, realizing that we don’t call races — that’s not what we do,” Scott said, “but we can give them information on when results will be reported, how much will be reported and when we expect to have the majority of ballots counted.”
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards asked how the new voting method will impact senior voters and others who have been voting the same way for decades.
“Older voters are a priority population for the City of Portland,” said Benson.
The League of Women voters, a partner and grantee of the Voter Education and Outreach Program, is focused on older voters and those living in retirement or assisted living communities. Benson added that the County is also partnering with the AARP to meet people where they are.
Commissioner Lori Stegmann asked about close races.
“This is not a magic wand for close races. If it’s close it’s going to be close,” Scott said. “We’ll produce as many results reports as we can on a regular basis to be as transparent as possible about where we are in the vote count.”
Recounts will still be conducted by hand in accordance with state law for races that are within one-fifth of 1%.
Stegmann also asked what election night results would look like.
“We will have results reports for City of Portland contests right at 8 o’clock on Election Night along with all the other contests in the general election,” Scott said.
“The big difference is that the state system cannot accommodate Ranked Choice Voting currently… so Multnomah County will be the sole source of reporting on City of Portland contests, and we’ll have those three report formats that we’re sharing simultaneously right at 8 o’clock on Election Night.”
As frequently as we are able to provide meaningful results, we’ll share updated reports,” said Scott. “It may not be multiple times on Election Night for Ranked Choice Voting contests because those are in-house reports. We’ve automated them as much as possible, but there is still more work to produce than our standard reports so we may not see another results report for City of Portland contests until the next day.
“Thank you for all the work you’re doing to educate voters, including the interactive components,” Chair Vega Pederson told the panelists. “No matter what people do on their vote, Multnomah County Elections is going to be counting that vote and making sure the ranked choice voting process goes through as planned and as practiced.”
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