Portland's Wide-Open Municipal Election
Pity the voters of Portland, Ore. Their options are very nearly endless.
Nineteen candidates are running for mayor in the Nov. 5 election. The field of candidates runs the gamut from fairly prominent former officeholders to relative no-names. It’s enough to overwhelm even the most informed voters in typical times. But to complicate matters more, voters are also using a ranked-choice voting system for the first time. Each voter can choose up to six candidates for mayor and rank them in order of preference. There are nearly 20 million ways to do this.
And if all that weren’t complicated enough, Portland voters are essentially creating a new government for the first time. In 2022, they voted to overhaul the existing city commission system, consisting of a mayor and five city councilors elected at large, and to create a new district-based City Council with three council members elected in each of four districts. This is the first election under the new system. Nearly 100 people (98 at the last count by Rose City Reform, a local nonprofit voter information site) are running for City Council. Two districts have 30 candidates each. Voters in those districts have more than 400 million ways to vote for City Council.
There are also local ballot questions, judicial seats, the state attorney general’s office, congressional races and the presidential election to be decided. As a small mercy, the incumbent Portland city auditor, Simone Rede, is running unopposed.
https://www.governing.com/politics/portlands-wide-open-municipal-election