Current vote totals show that a large majority of Oregon voters chose not to approve Measure 117, which would have established ranked choice voting for statewide and federal offices (similar to the model currently in place in Maine). The result means that future Oregon elections will continue to suffer from spoiler candidates and the potential for wasted votes. While administrators have not yet counted all votes, early results show a decisive margin of defeat: 60 percent of ballots counted opposed the measure, and remaining ballots are unlikely to change the outcome.
Portland voters, meanwhile, used ranked choice voting for the first time, and preliminary results from the state’s largest city indicate that Multnomah County Elections implemented it without any major hitches, following similar smooth implementation in 2020 in Benton County. Notably, too, results so far show that both Multnomah and Benton counties voted in favor of Measure 117, suggesting that the reform becomes more appealing with use. As more voters gain familiarity with ranked ballots in Oregon and elsewhere, support for a similar change in the future may grow.
Among a dozen election-reform ballot measures in the United States this month, Oregon’s Measure 117 was unique in being on the ballot thanks to the legislature rather than a citizens’ petition drive. Majority Democrats in Salem referred the question to voters, partly motivated by the desire to prevent recurrences of their party’s near-loss of the 2022 governor’s race because of an independent spoiler candidate. The partisan back-story of Measure 117 may be one reason for its demise: Democratic-leaning areas supported it, but more conservative counties (and commentators) opposed it.
Although the coalition in favor of the measure attracted broad support from a variety of organizations, county clerks (who administer elections in Oregon) expressed concern over the costs of the implementation. In addition, some voters may have been swayed by a “no” endorsement from one of the state’s leading news outlets, the Oregonian. Interestingly, one of the arguments megaphoned by the paper was that the measure did not go far enough, because it did not change the structure of the primary, unlike Alaska’s model.1 While in other states, mostly with more conservative electorates, majorities of voters are on track to reject measures with open, all-party primaries, future democracy reformers in Oregon may still look to make that bigger upgrade.
Sightline is monitoring other electoral reform ballot measures in Cascadia. See our reports on Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.
