| KGW – Portland News |
PORTLAND, Ore. — In November, Portland voters will not only need to select a new 12-member city council, but they will also have the option to rank their choices in order of preference through ranked-choice voting.
It’s a new system that largely came about as a more expansive way for voters to choose candidates and has largely been driven by dissatisfaction with the status quo both locally and nationally. Voters will hear the term rank-choice voting a lot between now and November, as opposition from political parties and partisan groups that fear losing power continue to push back on the measure.
People are pretty frustrated
In this episode of “Straight Talk,” two ranked-choice voting experts in Oregon and nationally, Sol Mora and Blair Bobier, join as guests to discuss how it works and what are the advantages and disadvantages.
“People are pretty frustrated with government and elections,” Mora said. “There’s a lot of negative attack ads out there, campaigns are toxic and rank choice voting is a way to improve our elections, improve the political atmosphere. And I think it will give us hope for the future of our democracy, which is something we could really use right now.”