Portland hasn’t updated its government in over 100 years. Our population has tripled since then, yet we still have just 5 City Councilors for a city of over 650,000. This means that Portland City Council members are tasked with representing far more people than City Councilors in most cities. Portland is also the last major city in America where City Council directly oversees day-to-day operations. Portland cannot afford to delay this change: From housing and homelessness to public safety, climate change, and infrastructure — the challenges we face require us to be functioning at our best.

Every ten years the Portland City Council assembles an independent Commission to review Portland’s governing Charter documents and recommend changes. In December 2020, Mayor Wheeler and City Council members selected twenty community members with a broad range of experience in government, business, and community engagement to serve on the Commission. After eighteen months of research, civic engagement, and public hearings, the Commissioners voted with 85% support to advance Measure 26-228 to change the city government.

Measure 26-228 allows all voters in future City elections to rank candidates in order of preference. You can rank some candidates, all of them, or just one. Under this system, a voters’ voice counts even if their top choice is not selected, because their second, third, or fourth choice may win a seat. In single member Ranked Choice elections, which will be used for Portland’s Mayor and Auditor, a candidate wins with 50% of the vote. In three-member ranked choice elections, which will be used to elect Portland City Council, each candidate needs at least 25% to win one of the three seats.

The core idea of “proportional representation” is that all votes count in the outcome—not just a winner-take-all bare majority. If one-quarter of a district’s voters rally behind a single candidate, that candidate gets one of the three seats for that district and those communities will have representation that is proportional to their share of the voters.

Watch this 2:42-long video explaining how ranked choice voting is used to elect multiple winners.

Cities that use ranked choice voting see a more diverse range of identities and viewpoints on City Council. Learn more >>>

As of September 2022, 56 jurisdictions in the United States use ranked choice voting, including Benton County, Oregon, San Francisco, and the states of Maine and Alaska. Worldwide, 90 out of 195 countries with democratic governments use some form of proportional representation. Cambridge, MA, Eastpointe, MI, and Palm Desert, CA are all examples of U.S. cities that use ranked choice voting to elect multiple City Council members at once.

National experts on city council structures advise that there should be about 50,000 community members per City Council representative. This is close to the ratio Portlanders had when the current government structure was first adopted in 1913. Over the past 100 years, Portland’s population has grown, but the size of the City Council has remained at just five people (including the Mayor, who serves on City Council in the current structure). Under the proposed reforms, the City Council will increase from five to twelve Council members (not including the Mayor, who will not serve on the City Council), and the ratio of representatives to residents will return to about 50,000 to one. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022, and interview with Commissioners.

Multi-member districts will give Portlanders better representation at City Hall. In each district, all candidates will run for three seats at once. The top three vote-getters will become lawmakers who all represent the district. Multi-member districts encourage cooperation, discourage negative campaigning, and ensure the vast majority of voters gets at least one of their top choices.

It's incredibly difficult for any one single elected individual to represent the entire diversity of viewpoints and experiences in a geographic district. Having multiple people allows for a greater chance that more viewpoints and experiences will be represented. Multiple representatives per district will help community members connect directly with their elected leaders and increase accountability between Portlanders and elected leaders. Because multiple leaders would represent one area of the city, this would also increase opportunities for collaboration and coalition building for geographic-based issues between those leaders. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022

Watch this 2:42-long video explaining how ranked choice voting is used to elect multiple winners.

Cities that have moved to single-member districts have seen new housing growth fall by an average of 20%. Multi-member districts, in contrast, provide local representation without stunting our urgent progress on addressing Portland’s housing crisis.

As Measure 26-228 was being created, Portlanders expressed overwhelming support for geographic representation in districts. Research from cities across the country shows that cities with a large number of small districts tend to be slower to advance regional priorities, such as affordable housing and transit solutions. Four relatively large districts balance the interest of increasing local representation with the interest of addressing citywide concerns like housing and homelessness. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022, and interview with Commissioners.

Measure 26-228 will change the job description of City Council members. Instead of managing day-to-day services and large city bureaus, city councilors will focus on legislation and policy development, such as making laws, engaging constituents, and bringing community and district voices into decision-making.

Councilors will have additional capacity to focus on solving complex challenges and meeting with everyday Portlanders to craft policy and budgets, collaborating on major initiatives, and long-term strategic planning for the city. City Council will also have a role in intergovernmental relationship building, collaboration, and communication with other local, state, and federal jurisdictions.

Measure 26-228 will balance power between the Mayor and City Council.

The Mayor, elected citywide, will run the city's day-to-day operations, with the help of a professional City Administrator. The Mayor will appoint that City Administrator and have the ability to fire that position. As in many cities the same size as Portland, the mayor will not serve on the City Council, but will have the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote if legislators cannot come to an agreement (akin to the U.S. Vice President if the Senate is tied on passing a bill). Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022

Yes, at every step of the process. Portland’s Charter Commission received 1,600 public comments, hosted 26 listening sessions with 580 community members, collected more than 4,000 surveys, interviewed community leaders, and provided 119 briefings to community groups. During its final public comment period in May 2022, the Charter Commission invited input on its proposed charter amendments through four public hearings and written public comment. The Commission invested in multilingual outreach materials and partnerships with community based organizations to engage all of Portland’s diverse communities. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022.

Yes, local leaders and national experts weighed in and Measure 26-228 includes best practices of good governance and modern democracy from around the globe. Portland’s Charter Commission interviewed elected leaders, bureau directors and provided 116 briefings for local, state, and federal jurisdictional partners while developing Measure 26-228. During the final public comment period in May 2022, the Charter Commission invited input on its proposed charter amendments through a work session with the Mayor and City Commissioners, a meeting with bureau directors, and two town halls with more than 1,100 City employees. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022.

The cost is very low and will require no new taxes. At most, the ongoing costs will be 0.14% of the City of Portland’s total annual budget.

One-time cost estimates of this transition are approximately $4.0M to $5.9M per year, or between 0.6% and 1.0% of Fiscal Year 2022-2023 discretionary resources, during the assumed three-year transition period from 2022 to 2025. The annual ongoing costs of the proposed reforms are estimated between $1M to $8.5M annually, which equates to between 0.15% and 1% of the city’s General Fund discretionary resources. Discretionary funds are approximately 10% of the overall total city budget. Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022.

No. There’s no need for increased taxes to cover an expenditure that will be, at most, 0.14% of the City’s annual budget (see above).

Yes.

Consolidating bureau operations under a single City Administrator will yield cost savings from more efficient and coordinated government services.

Ranked choice voting eliminates the local primary election, thereby saving money at the County elections offices and City of Portland’s public campaign financing program.

Source: Charter Reform Progress Report #6, June 2022.

The Portland proposal combines Single Transferable Vote (ranked choice voting in districts with multiple members) with a mayor-council-manager structure for administrative and executive governance functions. This system, including a “weak” mayor with tie-breaker power, is used in several cities with a population similar to Portland, including: Dublin, Ireland (since 1921), Belfast North Ireland, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, and Wellington, New Zealand.

Learn more >>>

The first election using the new system will be November 2024, which coincides with the high-turnout U.S. Presidential ballot.

Following the November 2022 election, the City Council will appoint an independent commission to develop the new City Council districts and another independent commission to set specific salaries and wages for the new Council positions. Both of these commissions require technical and professional expertise, and have been designed accordingly. They will complete their work by Fall 2023.