Nearly two years ago, voters passed three connected changes to Portland's form of government and election methods. Those changes are:
- Allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, using ranked-choice voting.
- Establish four geographic districts, with three city council members elected to represent each district – expanding city council to a total of 12 members.
- Establish a city council that focuses on setting policy and engaging with community, transitioning day-to-day oversight of bureaus to a mayor elected citywide and a professional city administrator.
Immediately after the November 2022 election, the City of Portland Elections Office partnered with the Multnomah County Elections Division to review, research and update the City of Portland’s election code language to align with voting best practices. This led to Portland City Council to approve those election code changes, and now Portlanders will be using ranked-choice voting in the November 2024 election.
No matter how much voter education outreach is offered, there are sure to be questions – and we welcome every single one of them! Every voter’s learning style is unique.
Before you read on, follow along on the tabulation of a multi-winner race in a related story.
Overview on electing city councilors
In August 2023, the Independent District Commission concluded their public discussions with each other and Portlanders to create a final map of the four new districts. As required by the Charter, each district needed to be assigned a number. Districts are geographic areas smaller than the city as a whole. When voting for your city councilors, you will only vote for candidates who live within your district. You will not be able to vote for candidates who live or represent other districts.
This November, voters in each district will elect three city councilors to represent their interests and concerns in city government. Voters will rank candidates for their district by selecting a 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice and so on, up to six choices.
Vote counting will begin with a review of all highest-ranking choices. Any candidate receiving more than 25% of the votes will be elected to the city council. If a candidate receives more votes than they need to be elected, they will earn one of the city council seats, and their extra votes will be divided among voters’ next ranked choices. For example, if a candidate receives 10% more votes than they need, each voter who picked them will have 1/10 of their vote go to their next choice3, while 9/10 of their vote stays with the candidate who just won a seat.
If no candidate gets enough votes to win in a round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and their votes will automatically go to their voters’ next choice. For example, if your 1st choice gets eliminated in the 1st round of counting, your vote will automatically go to your 2nd choice.
These steps will continue until all city council seats are filled. This could happen when three candidates in a district receive enough votes to win, or all but three candidates are eliminated.
Spotlight on a popular frequently asked question
Q > What are the district boundaries and why do they matter in this election?
A > When voters passed Charter reform in 2022, they voted to create geographic voting districts and a 12-member city council. This means that Portland voters will vote for their favorite candidates (by ranking up to six candidates) to represent their district. For example: If you live in District 1, you vote only for races in that district – you will not vote for candidates in other districts.
A district map look-up feature is currently available on PortlandMaps.com to look up in what district you are in. To look up which district you’re in, type in your address and scroll down to line 7, City Council district. Watch this tutorial if you have questions.
Learn more about voting in your district at Portland.Gov/Districts. Remember, you are only voting for candidates to represent the three seats in your voting district (not all 12 council seats). Your district is based on your home address that matches your voter registration.