| Barbara Klein | Oregon Capital Chronicle |
The Oregon Legislature recently took two significant steps intended to improve our democracy. In the 2023 Legislative session, lawmakers referred House Bill 2004 to the November ballot (Measure 117), asking voters whether they wanted ranked choice voting in federal and statewide elections. Then in 2024, lawmakers passed House Bill 4024 to address campaign finance reform.
Measure 117 would establish ranked choice voting – the fastest growing election reform in the country with a proven track record in Oregon and elsewhere. Ranked choice voting would bring a simple improvement to our elections to give voters more power to vote for who we want and in what order. If Measure 117 passes, Oregonians could vote for their favorite candidate in a race and also rank back-up candidates in their order of preference. This means we can vote for candidates who truly share our values, no matter how likely they are to win, and we won’t have to worry about throwing away our precious votes.
Governments with greater diversity
Cities that use ranked choice voting have produced governments with greater diversity than cities which don’t use it. Using ranked choice voting, for example, New York City elected a City Council in 2021 with a majority of women and people of color.
November’s election is a momentous time for ranked choice voting in Oregon. Not only will all Oregonians weigh in on Measure 117, but Portland voters will be using it for the first time to elect a newly expanded 12-member City Council. Portland’s version of ranked choice voting, which is similar to elections in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, California, will elect three council members in each district. Measure 117, by contrast, would adopt a simpler form of ranked choice voting for both the primary and November elections to elect many statewide and federal officials.