Northwest Health Foundation lends lobbying capacity to legislative work that aligns with our values and is led by our grantees. We met with many of our grantees late last year and heard about their passion for police reform, universal childcare and more. One topic that bubbled to the surface and aligned nicely with our commitment to a more reflective democracy was a bill to enact Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) across the state.

A light-skinned hand slides two envelopes into a ballot box.

The Problem

A democracy should represent all the people it serves. While Oregon leads in voter access, thanks to motor voter and vote-by-mail, we can further improve our democracy by upgrading our elections themselves. Our current electoral system often favors candidates with greater access to resources, making it difficult for grassroots, community-driven candidates to get elected. These systems sometimes result in candidates getting elected to office with less than 50% of the vote, meaning most voters end up represented by someone they didn’t vote for. During the 2020 primaries, in races with more than two candidates, over two-thirds of the races saw the majority of people vote against the winner.

The Solution

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a simple upgrade that provides voters with more choices and includes more voices. It reduces barriers for voters, eliminating the spoiler effect and guaranteeing that winning candidates always receive more than half the vote. It also reduces barriers to entry and allows greater participation by both voters and candidates. Used by more than 10 million people in six states and dozens of cities and counties across the United States (including Benton County), RCV lets people rank candidates in the order they prefer. To win, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate gets 50%, an “instant runoff” occurs where the ballots for the last-place candidate are instantly recounted for the voters’ second choice. Simply put, RCV means candidates must compete for support from all voters, and no community can be ignored.

The Players

APANO and Next Up Action are leading the RCV coalition, building on the work of Oregon Ranked Choice Voting. Endorsers include Coalition of Communities of Color, Oregon Student Association, More Equitable Democracy and more.

The Coalition’s Values

Racial equity is always the lens, not a lens. Enfranchisement and voting rights have always been about race and power. We acknowledge RCV conversations have previously been dominated by white men.
Voter Experience: Voters will ultimately be the users of this system. We should judge ourselves by their ability to feel like their voices are heard better in this system compared to the status quo.
Building a more just and equitable Oregon by designing a system that allows for more progressive victories.

The Proposal

HB 2678 brings RCV to Oregon by (1) implementing RCV in all partisan primaries and (2) replacing nonpartisan primaries with an RCV general election in November (except for counties in which home rule applies). Under our current system of voting twice a year, turnout for nonpartisan primaries is substantially lower and skews wealthier and whiter than nonpartisan general election races. Combining the primary and general into a ranked ballot ensures the majority of voices are heard on important issues.