Testimony for city charter change

Written testimony for Ranked Choice Instant Runoff Voting

-Submitted by the Portland Green Party's Ranked Choice Instant Runoff Voting Campaign

We seek to have ranked choice instant runoff voting added to the City of Portland's charter.

Ranked choice voting is when voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a majority of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. A new round of counting takes place, with each ballot counted as one vote for the advancing candidate who is ranked highest on that ballot. This process continues until the winning candidate receives a majority of the vote against the remaining candidates.

We have for the last year gathered small donations from nearing two thousand people in the Portland area for the campaign to implement Ranked Choice Instant Runoff Voting. We have coalesced with a number of groups, including the Alliance for Democracy that will stand with us. Our campaign is eager for it to be on the ballot. It will be an item we will make sure voters are fully informed on so they can make an educated choice in a high turn out election as to how democratic they want their local elections to be.

This opportunity to follow in the footsteps of cities like San Francisco exists because the people of Oregon back in 1908, by popular initiative, proposed and adopted it. A hundred and three years ago we wanted the option of ranked choice voting. This isn't a new idea, and finally with the election of Kate Brown, a reform-minded Secretary of State, we can take advantage of the foresight of our forebears.

Ranked choice voting is a better version of democracy than what we now use:

• Majority Rule! Ranked choice voting insures that candidates actually have a majority in the high turnout general election, thus avoiding the false majority "winners" in a primary election which often has a low turn out of around thirty percent.

• It has a proven track record of increasing the chances for minorities and women to be elected, as we want our leaders to more closely match who they lead.

• It makes elections cheaper. Ranked choice voting in San Francisco allows them to skip the cost of two elections for close primary races. The money saved would be enough to cover the costs of implementation and education, and would pair well with public financing of elections. That was narrowly defeated, but we believe it would pass if paid for with savings from ranked voting.

• When ranked choice voting is implemented, negative campaigning is reduced. Candidates seek to be second and third choices not just first and so have to focus on promoting themselves more than going on the attack to ensure they win the election.

• The spoiler effect is eliminated, allowing people to vote for candidates in the rank ordering they actually prefer without the cost of a runoff election.

• Higher voter turnout isn't just more democratic it is also a good way to increase the efficiency of the election system as ballots and pamphlets are printed for everybody but mostly go unused in the current system. Dollars per voter thus additionally decrease in cost beyond the elimination of separate rounds.

A recent poll showed approval of Ranked Voting among a majority of Portlanders. This is what Portlanders want. Portland is a natural fit for this simple reform that will improve our democracy and make our elections more efficient. We are delighted to ask that you recommend to the City Council that ranked choice voting be placed on the ballot.

Thank you all for your time.