Voters reject statewide ranked-choice polls, target 117, in early returns

Oregonians will hold on to winner-take-all elections for federal and statewide offices, with partial results for Measure 117 showing the “no” vote ahead.

Partial returns Tuesday showed 59% of voters opposed the measure and 41% supported it.

The ballot measure would have required officials to put ranked-choice elections in place by 2028 for elections for president, congress, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and labor commissioner. It also would have allowed cities and counties to implement the voting system for local elections and required the secretary of state’s office to create a voter education program for the new system.

Under the ranked-choice system that the measure would introduce, voters rank candidates on their ballot in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than half of the first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The votes for that candidate are then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on voters’ subsequent preferences. This process continues until a candidate receives a majority of the vote.

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Supporters of the measure said it would encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds to run, as they would have fewer concerns about splitting votes with similar candidates. In addition, they believe that ranked choice gives more voters a voice in elections and increases voter engagement.

Opponents of the measure argue that the expanded ballots needed to cast ranked-choice elections create more opportunities for voter error. They also argue that voters will not care about the outcome if their top choice is eliminated during the voting process.

The measure received support from many prominent Oregon civil rights, labor and civic engagement groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, the League of Women Voters and the Urban League of Portland.

Wealthy supporters of ranked-choice voting from outside Oregon contributed millions of dollars to support the ballot. The political action committee supporting Measure 117 had raised $9.4 million as of Tuesday, campaign finance filings show, almost all of which came from out-of-state nonprofits.

Although no campaign raised money to oppose Measure 117, a group of county officials launched a political action committee in August to raise concerns about the measure. The clerks said the new voting system would overburden their offices and cost millions to implement. They also said they weren’t sufficiently heard when the Legislature referred the measure to the 2023 ballot.