PORTLAND, OR – Oregon voters rejected Measure 117 to implement ranked choice voting in statewide and federal offices, though notably not in places where voters use ranked choice voting locally. The result means that future Oregon elections will continue to suffer from spoiler candidates and the potential for wasted votes.
The nonpartisan, regional think tank Sightline Institute has a breadth of research on what a switch to ranked choice voting would have looked like for Oregon voters. Per Sightline’s free use policy, all research, graphics, and other resources are available to republish. Research shows that with ranked choice voting:
- Winners would earn majority support—not just plurality support. Of the seven gubernatorial elections since 2000, four saw the winning candidate finish with less than 50 percent of the vote. Christine Drazan won the 2022 Republican primary for governor with just 23 percent of the vote.
- Ranked choice voting would help avoid “spoiler candidates” from splitting the vote, as happened in Oregon’s 1990 election for Governor.
- Maine offers Oregonians the closest example of what statewide adoption of ranked choice voting would have looked like in practice. Even when it has not obviously changed an election’s winner, ranked choice voting has had subtle benefits in Maine, such as encouraging candidates to ally with each other and to reach out to each other’s supporters.
Portland voters used ranked choice voting for the first time, and preliminary results indicate that Multnomah County Elections implemented it without any major hitches. Find Portland-specific analysis and research here and current electoral metrics at StumptownStats.org.
In addition to Portland, the Oregon city of Corvallis has already adopted ranked choice voting for local elections, as have Multnomah and Benton counties. 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.
Democracy researcher Shannon Grimes is available for comment on Sightline’s findings.
Read more: Oregon Elections Will Continue to Suffer Spoiler Candidates
Contact: Shannon Grimes, Sightline Institute, shannon@sightline.org
Analysis:
- What Oregonians Need to Know About Ranked Choice Voting
- Maine’s Lessons in Ranked Choice Voting
- Spoiler alert! Majority winners are no guarantee
- Reporting on ranked choice voting in Portland’s 2024 elections
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Shannon Grimes is a Researcher with the Sightline Institute’s Democracy program, where she focuses on securing electoral reforms in Washington and Oregon. Find more of her work here.
Sightline Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of democracy, forests, energy, and housing policy in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, and beyond.
