Ranked-Choice Voting

Portland voters of color as well as those who live east of Interstate 205 were far less likely to know about the city’s new ranked-choice voting system prior to casting ballots in last month’s election than voters who identify as white or live in other parts of the city. Overall, 85% of Portland voters were at least partially aware of the city’s election reforms that allowed them to choose up to six candidates each for mayor and City Council in order of preference for the first time. Those are among...

Missouri voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure aimed at banning ranked-choice voting in the state, Decision Desk HQ projects. The proposed amendment to the state constitution will bar the implementation of ranked-choice elections, under which voters rank candidates in order of preference. The Show-me State does not currently use ranked-choice voting, but some in the GOP have targeted the practice, which is used statewide in Alaska and Maine. Measures to implement the systems, doing away with partisan primaries, were on the ballot in several other states on Tuesday. Proponents...

A measure to implement top-four, all-candidate primaries and ranked choice voting in the general election has failed in Colorado, Decision Desk HQ projects. Coloradans voted down the proposed change, keeping the state to its current primary model, which lets unaffiliated voters participate in party primaries. The measure would have grouped candidates of all affiliations onto the same primary ballot, then advanced the top four vote-getters to the general, regardless of party. Voters would also have ranked the candidates by preference in the general.

Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon rebuffed efforts to adopt ranked-choice voting in their future elections, dealing a setback to a group of wealthy donors who wanted to dramatically change how Americans choose their elected officials.

The one bright spot for advocates of ranked-choice voting was the District, where a referendum was approved by a wide margin.

Voters also decided on measures to amend the state constitution to provide lawmakers with impeachment powers and set officials’ salaries. Oregon voters have rejected controversial Ballot Measure 118, which would have created the nation’s first statewide Universal Basic Income (UBI) program, with 78.3 percent of voters saying no, according to partial results as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Measure 118 would have increased the minimum tax on corporations, distributing the tax revenue to eligible Oregon residents.

Washingtonians on Tuesday are casting ballots to decide whether to adopt Initiative 83, a ballot measure that, if passed, would allow independents to vote in primary elections and change D.C.’s voting method to ranked-choice voting, requiring a candidate to have a majority of the vote to win. The District is joining four states this election in considering the move to ranked-choice voting, a method that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference and that has grown significantly nationwide over the last decade. D.C. would join jurisdictions including New...

Architects of Portland’s expanded City Council, whose members will be selected using ranked-choice voting next week, had grand dreams of a much more ethnically, geographically and economically diverse set of policymakers taking charge.

And political experts who’d watched similar efforts in other cities and states forecasted that candidates would identify as part of policy-aligned slates and catch voters’ attention with calls to rank not only themselves but their linked-arm competitors at the top of their ballots.

Wealthy supporters of ranked-choice voting from outside Oregon have contributed millions of dollars in an effort to make the state the third to implement the voting method statewide.

Yes on 117, the political action committee supporting Measure 117, has raised $7.4 million since it began fundraising in August, campaign finance filings show.