Multnomah County leaders were recognized at the Portland State University (PSU) Hatfield School of Government’s Public Service Recognition ceremony Thursday, May 7: Ranked Choice Voting Project Manager Leah Benson and Auditor Jennifer McGuirk.
Launched in 2024, the award ceremony honors local people who have made significant contributions to public service. The event also encourages discussions on how to strengthen public service, as well as relationships between public service professionals and community members.
This year, the slate of awardees comprised five public servants whose work exemplifies the spirit of public service. The event also featured a panel discussion with the awardees to highlight their perspectives on public service and how they each contribute as "community game changers."
“At a time when communities and public institutions are facing growing challenges, the need for thoughtful, collaborative and community-centered public leadership has never been greater,” said Dr. Masami Nishishiba, a professor in the Department of Public Administration and the associate director of the school’s Center for Public Service.
Before introducing Benson, Paul Manson, research director of PSU Center for Public Service’s Elections and Voter Information Center, reminded the audience, “Election administration is critical infrastructure. It’s something that we don’t necessarily understand the details of or how complex it is and what it interacts with. We assume it will work, and work perfectly, every time.”
But making it work, he said, has only gotten more difficult. “It’s an enormous task for those who do that in normal conditions. We enter this era of politicized conversations about how election administration works and how it functions.”
In 2022, voters approved Measure 26-228, eliminating primary elections and requiring ranked-choice voting for all City of Portland candidate contests in November 2024. Multnomah County voters also approved Measure 26-232 to do the same for all county-level candidate contests starting November 2026.
Multnomah County’s Elections Division conducts both city and county elections, as well as other local, state and federal elections. And it fell to the Elections team and Ranked Choice Voting Project Manager Leah Benson to make sure the Division made the transition to this new way of voting.
Preparing for the first use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in the November 2024 City of Portland candidate contests meant rethinking nearly all election processes and procedures. That included everything from designing a new paper ballot and developing updated software systems capable of counting single-winner and multi-winner ranked-choice voting contests, to new processes for hand count tests and intentional voter education and outreach about ranked choice voting.
“The focus of walking a tight rope on a new election system — where there are two parties holding that tightrope for you and you’re walking over a pit of alligators — Leah’s team walked that tightrope perfectly,” said Manson. “You wouldn’t even notice there were alligators at the end of the day.”
The shift to a multi-member ranked choice voting system in 2024 of all years, is a phenomenal lift. The work by the team to implement something so novel under so much pressure is phenomenal,” said Manson.
Manson praised Benson’s ability to tackle complex challenges. What elevated her performance and service was “seeing a problem as a citizen, getting involved in an advisory group, and using years of experience in increasing access and equity around different policy issues” — all before joining Multnomah County.
Confidence in elections and the County has been phenomenal,” said Manson.
Benson reflected on her experience over the past two years at the Elections Division.
“I frequently end up in the community doing presentations or just calls in general with my boss, Tim Scott, the director of elections. And frequently people will ask us questions, like ‘How did you come to this work?’”
“Tim has a gorgeous answer,” she continued. “He talks about the year 2000 election and how it really affected him. It inspired him to go back to school to learn everything he could to work in election administration and he’s been doing it ever since.
“And then it gets to me and I say, ‘I used to own a bike shop!’”
Benson likened her professional pursuits to an ancient Greek adage of the fox and the hedgehog which describes two types of thinkers: foxes, who know a lot about many things and pursue many lines of interests, and hedgehogs, whose strength tends to rest in a unifying vision, or a single area of expertise.
“If you look at the bios of folks here tonight, you see the deep knowledge and expertise that they bring.” But in contrast, for her entire life, “I have been interested in everything. I’ve wanted to consume the entire world and bring it with me wherever I go.”
Benson recounted her professional path: graduating with three majors, teaching English as a second language, working as an HIV counselor and educating people about difficult topics, and serving as a volunteer coordinator, then a community organizer.
“And then I thought, ‘You know what? Bike shops!’” she laughed.
Despite having worked in so many roles, Benson said that she’s found herself always “building something from the ground up. I am completely unafraid of ambiguity. I love to walk into a mess and find order. I love to build enduring structures.”
She’s combined that problem-solving orientation with the care and connection she feels for her community to listen and create together something that “makes our lives a little bit better.”
Benson also reflected on the current moment.
“I think we can all agree that things are feeling extra ambiguous and unstable right now. What we need right now is people who are willing to step in and build,” she said.
“We absolutely need the specialists and experts who hold the keys that make things happen. We also need people who can walk in as the most boring version of Mary Poppins, carrying not spoons full of sugar but well curated spreadsheets from lots of different industries of learning and perfectly curated one-pagers. People who say, ‘I’m willing to wade through the muck and willing to roll up my sleeves.’”
Looking ahead, Benson emphasized the importance of intentional and effective engagement to reach and educate communities — even if that means moving away from the digital realm.
RCV voter education will kick into high gear later this summer as Multnomah County conducts its first RCV candidate contests for the November 3, 2026 Election. Residents may soon see more information about RCV on buses, in newspapers, in their mailboxes and at events.
“It’s relating less on social media, less on text messages, and more how we exist with our neighbors and really have conversations… back into realities as we used to work together,” she said.
The ceremony also honored Multnomah County Auditor Jennifer McGuirk.
“For those of us engaged in public service, the term ‘audit’ might sound scary, nerve-racking or even terrifying,” said Dr. Billie Sandberg, an associate professor with the Public Administration Department, as she introduced McGuirk.
“But we understand that auditing public programs is essential for ensuring transparency and the good stewardship of limited resources. Jennifer doesn’t just oversee audits for the County; she champions a culture of accountable and equitable government.”
As the County Auditor, McGuirk leads a team that conducts performance audits of Multnomah County operations and financial affairs; investigates suspected fraud, waste and abuse of position through the Good Government Hotline; and helps people resolve issues with the County through the County Ombudsperson, explained Sandberg.
McGuirk established the office’s first community advisory committee and integrated an equity lens primarily focused on racial equity into the office's work. She’s also ensured that community engagement processes are used across every project the office takes on.
The work of her office under McGuirk’s watch earned them an organizational leadership award from the American Society for Public Administration's Center for Accountability and Performance.
“She is tireless in her endeavors to ensure tax dollars are used effectively and that our systems operate fairly,” Sandberg said. “She embodies the very best of public administration and public service.”
