Portland’s ranked-choice debut causes voter engagement to crater; 1 in 5 who cast ballots chose no one for City Council
Portland’s ranked-choice debut causes voter engagement to crater; 1 in 5 who cast ballots chose no one for City Council
A substantial share of Portland residents who voted in last week’s election left their preference for mayor or City Council entirely blank.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21917446
Ballot in question:
Mayor:
District 1:
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If a system encourages people to not vote when they have no clue who they are voting for, then that might be considered a feature instead of an issue. Though one problem I can think off is that coaching of voters on how to vote becomes even more effective. I'm on the fence on this one.
Ps: is a 20% drop enough to say that something "cratered" or is this just another superlative clickbait title?
In a state that regularly sees 60+% and 70+% participation, yeah, 20% skipping those lines is a big chunk. I don't think we have final turnout numbers yet.
According to the headline it's 20% of those who voted for the mayor, not 20% of the population. So fe a drop from 60% to 48% voter participation.
It's 20% of people who cast valid ballots skipping those lines.
So they chose to vote for other things on the ballot, but skipped voting for mayor and city council, meaning they chose not to participate there.