Why Portland’s District 1 voter participation lagged other districts in first election using ranked choice voting

Earlier this month, the City of Portland and Multnomah County released data and survey results about Portlanders’ experience with ranked choice voting. According to the survey, 91% of voters said they understood how to fill out their ranked choice ballots. But only 55% of voters in East Portland’s District 1 turned in those ballots, compared to rates of turnout that ranged from 74 to 76% for the other three districts. District 1 voters were also more likely to turn in ballots that had no candidate for city council selected, and nearly a quarter of D1 voters surveyed said they had no awareness of ranked choice voting. 

City officials acknowledged that more work needs to be done to reach voters of color and to better understand the low voter turnout in District 1. The lack of engagement may also be a result of decades’ long neglect for the needs of East Portland voters in City Hall, according to José Gamero-Georgeson, a D1 resident and volunteer at East County Rising, a political action committee that supports progressive candidates in East Multnomah County. He is also the co-chair of the Portland Government Transition Advisory Committee. Gamero-Georgeson joins us to share his perspective on how to engage and boost participation among voters in East Portland.