(Update: Added comments from Deschutes County Clerk and spokesperson for M 117)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon voters will decide in November whether to implement ranked-choice voting in state and federal elections. The first big hurdle for supporters will be explaining how it works and then explaining why they believe it benefits the state.
Legislators passed HB2004 at the end of this year’s session, leaving it to voters to decide. It is Proposition 117 on the November 5 ballot.
In ranked choice voting, voters choose their first candidate and then rank the other candidates on the ballot in order of preference. If a candidate does not receive 50% of the vote, a runoff election occurs. The candidate with the fewest votes is then eliminated and the votes are given to the voters’ second candidate.
Oregon would be the third state to adopt ranked-choice voting. Maine has used it since 2018 and Alaska since 2020. Oregon, like much of the country, currently uses plurality voting, in which the candidate with the most votes wins.
Steve Dennison, Deschutes County’s administrative officer, said Thursday: “With such a major election reform, there really should be big benefits. And I don’t know if those benefits outweigh the effort required to implement it.”
He says implementing ranked-choice voting could cost the county’s elections office $200,000 and would require an additional $100,000 for each election.
“The government does not reimburse counties for election costs,” Dennison said. “The parties – we do a significant amount of work for the parties in primaries. The parties do not reimburse counties for election costs.”
Caroline Phillips, communications director for the pro-Measure 117 campaign in Oregon, touts the benefits of ranked-choice voting, saying they outweigh the costs.
“We believe it is worth the cost to give voters more power,” she said. “The costs we see associated with ranked choice voting are minimal. On average, it costs about a dollar to implement, which is less than a dollar per voter in other places where ranked choice voting has been implemented.”
Ranked choice voting was passed in the last legislative session as a House bill in 2004. Its proponents said it would expand voters’ choices.
Phillips said, “Measure 117 is a very simple improvement to our elections that really aims to give voters more power and more say in our ballots.”
The Deschutes County clerk says he is not opposed to the idea of ranked-choice voting, but hopes he and other county officials will have a say in how it is implemented if the process is adopted.
“Don’t trust me. Don’t trust the proponents – don’t rely on a single source,” Dennison urged. “Research and educate yourself on the issue, and then make your decision.”
