Ranked-Choice Voting

Oct 7

Written By Lars B

Ranked Choice Voting in Portland/Multnomah County

This post provides information about use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Portland and Multnomah County elections.

RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, and so forth. If your first choice doesn’t have a chance to win, your ballot counts for your next choice. RCV works in all types of elections and supports more representative outcomes.

Benefits of RCV (6 page PDF) outlines frequently claimed advantages of RCV.

Use of RCV in Portland and Multnomah County was approved by voters in 2022, with the first use occurring in the November 2024 election for election of Portland Mayor and Auditor, and for election of 3 City Councilors to each of 4 city districts.

In developing the system, the Multnomah County Elections Division collaborated with the National Ranked Choice Voting Center and other jurisdictions already using RCV (prominently, Arlington, New York City and Minneapolis). They employed a cautious, detailed, well-designed process for developing the system, related voter education, and analysis of results to identify further voter education improvements.

RCV is used in many jurisdictions. The system implemented in Portland closely resembles the approach used for several years in Minneapolis, MN.

Portland's RCV Approach (10-page PDF, with 5 pages of references to various web pages that might be helpful) outlines the RCV approach used by Portland and Multnomah County. This detailed document is well organized and you should be able to easily find specific information of interest to you.

RCV in Other Jurisdictions (4 page PDF) provides information about RCV uses in jurisdictions other than Portland/Multnomah County. Provides links to web pages used by several other jurisdictions to explain their use of RCV.

RCV Cincinnati Method Sampling Error (4 page PDF). For multi-winner elections, the City of Cambridge uses a different surplus vote transfer method (the Cincinnati Method) than Portland. Cambridge's approach (unlike Portland's) would result in some sampling error during transfer of surplus votes from a winning candidate to other candidates. This document provides some relatively simple statistical calculations of the sampling error expected from Cambridge's use of the Cincinnati Method and compares to the sampling error that would be expected if the Cincinnati Method was used in an election for Portland District 2 City Councilors. Portland's method seems superior and wisely chosen. The information in this document is a bit technical, but might be of interest to some readers.

"Practice" Ballots and Ballot Instructions

Several U.S. jurisdictions have provided interactive demonstrations on their websites that allow you to practice your use of a ranked-choice ballot. U.S. jurisdictions seem to all use a similar grid-type ballot presentation. (Ireland and Australia also use RCV, but use a very different ballot presentation.)

From Multnomah County Elections Division.

Sample RCV ballot including section for election of Multnomah County District 2 Commissioner in the November 2026 Election

https://multco.us/file/4302-1-rcv-non-en.pdf-0/download

Sample RCV ballot including election for District 3 City Councilor

https://multco.us/file/4205-1-rcv-non-en.pdf-0/download

An interactive demonstration where you can practice using a ranked choice ballot in a mock election

https://app.rankedvote.co/rv/yngrjcmklg4r7xsoq6/vote

From the City of Cambridge, MA.

An interactive demonstration that allows you to practice completing a ranked-choice ballot. The practice ballot is provided in a section titled "Try a Practice Ranked Choice Ballot" located towards the bottom of the web page.

https://www.cambridgema.gov/departments/electioncommission/rankedchoicepracticeballot