Portland’s ranked-choice debut causes voter engagement to crater; 1 in 5 who cast ballots chose no one for City Council

In east Portland, the city’s poorest and most racially diverse quadrant, a combination of low voter turnout and low rates of ranking even a single City Council candidate by voters who did cast ballots meant only 39% of registered voters had any say in which three candidates will represent the district, the newsroom analysis found.

I wonder if voter turnout was below, about even, or above the average for the last 20 years. And then what percentage of registered voters had a say in those. Hopefully, the city council and ranked choice voting advocates will do some outreach.

In the district encompassing Portland east of Interstate 205, 29% of residents who cast ballots didn’t rank any of the 16 candidates running. That figure was 18% in North and Northeast Portland (22 candidates); 17% in Southeast Portland (30 candidates); 17% in the city’s westside district (30 candidates); and an average of 20% citywide. Only 7% of voters who cast ballots in the November 2022 election sat out the highly polarized City Council runoff between Jo Ann Hardesty and Rene Gonzalez. And 13% did in the fall 2020 contest between Chloe Eudaly and Mingus Mapps.

In a linked article:

The portion of Portland east of Interstate 205, home to nearly a quarter of the city’s population and its least economically advantaged stretch, had just two residents elected to the council in all of city history.

Now it's five. This isn't an excuse to not do outreach, but this shows far more directly that the people from their neighborhoods are representing them. I hope council members will do community building events.