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Multnomah County adopts ordinance to implement ranked‑choice voting for county contests
Summary
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted an ordinance amending county code chapter 5 to implement single‑winner ranked‑choice voting for county candidate elections, aligning county rules with the City of Portland and preparing for county contests in November 2026.
Multnomah County commissioners unanimously adopted an ordinance amending county code chapter 5 to implement single‑winner ranked‑choice voting (RCV) for county candidate elections.
Elections Director Tim Scott and Ranked Choice Voting Project Manager Leah Benson told the board the ordinance aligns county rules with the Multnomah County Home Rule Charter and the City of Portland’s RCV code and will allow the county to prepare for its first RCV contests in November 2026. "A key goal in the drafting of the ordinance was consistency between the city and county election codes," Benson said.
The ordinance mirrors several City of Portland practices, including: (1) single‑winner RCV for county contests; (2) a required certification of write‑in candidates; (3) allowing voters to rank up to six candidates on ballots; and (4) the same automatic voter‑intent interpretations for common ballot errors (skipped rankings, repeated rankings, overvotes). Scott said the Elections Division successfully administered Portland’s first RCV contest and is using lessons from that experience in drafting county procedures.
Benson also described administrative details the code will clarify. The proposed code sets a minimum of two filed candidates for RCV to be used in a contest and permits "batch elimination" during tabulation to collapse multiple simultaneous eliminations for administrative efficiency without changing final outcomes. Benson cited examples from New York City and Portland showing batch elimination can shorten tabulation rounds while producing the same winner.
Commissioners asked several procedural questions about conflicts of interest and voter education; Commissioner Singleton said staff had already met with her team to answer prior questions. No public testimony was offered on the ordinance, and the board voted: Moyer — yes; Singleton — yes; Broom Edwards — yes; Jones Dixon — yes; Chair Vega Peterson — yes. The ordinance was adopted.
The Elections Division said code changes will be followed by planning for voter education and updates to election administration procedures. The office will continue preparing for implementation tasks ahead of the county’s expected use of RCV in 2026.
