Deschutes County clerk, others across Oregon concerned about ranked-choice voting proposal on the fall ballot

(Update: Adding comments by Deschutes County clerk, pro-M 117 spokeswoman)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- Oregon voters will decide in November whether state and federal elections will implement ranked-choice voting. The first big hurdle for proponents will be explaining how it works, followed by why they think it will benefit the state.

Legislators passed HB2004 at the end of this year's session, which sent the idea for voters to decide. It's Ballot Measure 117 on the Nov. 5 ballot.

In ranked-choice voting , voters will decide their first choice candidate, then rank the other candidates on the ballot in order of preference. If one candidate does not receive 50% of the vote, the election will move to a runoff. The candidate with the lowest number of votes then will be eliminated and the votes will be recast to the voters' second choice.

Oregon would be the third state to implement ranked choice voting. Maine has used it since 2018, and Alaska since 2020. Oregon currently uses plurality voting, like much of the country, where the candidate with the highest number of votes wins.

Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison said Thursday, "With such a large election reform, there should be some really big gains with that. And I don't know that those gains outweigh the efforts that it will take to implement."

He says implementing rank-choice voting could cost the county's election office $200,000 and require an additional $100,000 every election.

"The feds don't reimburse counties for elections," Dennison said. "The parties - we do a significant amount of work for the parties in a primary election. Parties don't reimburse counties for elections."

Caroline Phillips, communications director for Oregon's pro-Measure 117 campaign , says the benefits of ranked choice voting and says the benefits outweigh the costs.

"We believe that giving voters more power is worth the cost," she said. "The cost that we do see around ranked-choice voting is minimal. On average, it's about a dollar, less than a dollar per voter to implement, in other places that have implemented ranked-choice voting."

The ranked-choice voting option passed as House Bill 2004 in the last legislative session - with supporters saying it would increase voters' choices.

Phillips said, "Measure 117 is a really simple upgrade to our elections that's really focused on giving voters more power and more voice on our ballots."

The Deschutes county clerk says he is not against the idea of ranked-choice voting, but hopes he and other county clerks have a say in how it's rolled out, if adopted.

"Don't take my word for it. Don't take the advocates' word for it - don't take, you know, one source," Dennison urged. "Do some research and get educated on the topic, and then make your decision."

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