If passed by Oregon voters in November, ballot Measure 117 would enact major changes to the statewide election system with ranked-choice voting. Native-led organizations endorsing the measure believe it has the potential to boost Native representation in elected office.
The new system would give voters the ability to rank candidates in order of preference for federal and state primary and general elections, including for president; U.S. senator and representative; governor; secretary of state; state treasurer; state attorney general; and commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. The measure would not affect state legislative elections.
Voters could still opt to just choose one candidate and not rank others.
Portland is using ranked-choice voting for the first time this year for city elections, including mayor and city council.
If passed, proponents say Measure 117 would help build a framework for other state governments looking to adopt ranked-choice voting for local elections. It would also direct the secretary of state to create a program to educate voters about ranked-choice voting and how those elections would work.
The measure would take effect for elections beginning in 2028.
Support from Native organizations
More than 130 organizations across Oregon have endorsed Measure 117. Over two dozen of those are community-based nonprofits such as Coalition of Communities of Color, More Equitable Democracy and Seeding Justice.
Two Native-led nonprofits in Oregon, NAYA Action Fund and Tribal Democracy Project, have also endorsed the measure.
Tribal Democracy Project, co-founded in 2023 by Jaylyn Suppah, citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and Brian Smith, citizen of the Muscogee Nation, works to increase voter education and engagement in Native communities across Oregon. This year, their main focus has been on supporting Measure 117.
“Tribal Democracy Project is on the executive committee for the campaign to get this passed,” Smith said. “A big piece of this puzzle is to use ranked-choice voting in local elections, in the long run, which would be a more proportionate system, to essentially have a system where more Natives can get elected, particularly in rural areas.”
Smith believes that a ranked-choice voting system will help accomplish that by encouraging people to vote their values instead of strategic voting and disincentivizing the practice of urging certain candidates to drop out of a race because of concerns over “splitting the vote.”
“So you’ll see a lot of our candidates probably get more votes under this system when people are like, ‘Well, I’m gonna vote my values and vote second place for this other person,’” Smith said.
He pointed to the 2022 election of Alaska U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Yup’ik, two years after Alaska voters had approved an initiative in 2020 to establish a ranked-choice general election system. Peltola, the state’s sole U.S. representative, is the first Alaska Native member in Congress.
In early October, during the 2024 Annual Convention of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), which represents 57 Northwest Native nations from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California, Southeast Alaska, and Western Montana, the Tribal Democracy Project brought forward a resolution in support of ranked-choice voting and Measure 117.
“If our Tribes and tribal voters can engage fully in the political system—free from the barriers that currently obstruct us—we can reclaim power and participate in a way that is fair and just,” reads the resolution passed by ATNI. “Therefore, be it resolved, that ATNI supports Oregon Ballot Measure 117, which would change Oregon’s voting method for federal and statewide positions to ranked choice voting and require the Oregon Secretary of State to give formal guidance to local governments that choose to change their multi-winner districts to ranked choice voting.”
NAYA Action Fund also recently released its list of endorsements, which includes a yes vote on Measure 117. NAYA Action Fund “engages in political advocacy and builds electoral power in partnership with the Native community throughout Oregon and Washington,” according to its website.
William Miller, Blackfeet and Cherokee, executive director of NAYA Action Fund, believes that the current voting methods fail to create an electorate that is truly for the people, by the people as the Constitution calls for.
“The work that we’re in the business of doing is dismantling and creating access and opportunity for folks in our community to have a voice at the table, to be heard, be seen, and create additional representation and opportunity to not only be at the table, but to run and win office,” Miller said. “To not only be heard and seen, but to demand to be heard and seen. Our people deserve that.”
Like Smith, Miller sees ranked-choice voting as a way to address other long-standing issues within the current system, such as political polarization and the trend of encouraging candidates to drop out for fear of splitting the vote. Moving away from a winner-takes-all system gives voters options and the chance to vote their values, ultimately creating a more equitable democracy, according to Miller.
“My hope is Measure 117 will usher in a new wave of BIPOC candidates running and winning elected office,” he said.
“I firmly believe that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution,” Miller continued. “And I think that those in our community are the best lawmakers, are the best policymakers, are the best folks to be at the table making the decisions to transform systems, to transform policy, to make change in our community for seven generations.”
Equity includes a livable wage
NAYA Action Fund has also endorsed Measure 116. If passed, the measure will amend the state constitution and establish an independent commission with the power to set salaries for the governor, secretary of state, lawmakers and other elected state officials.
This would take politicians out of the position of deciding their own salaries.
Miller believes that Measures 116 and 117 go hand-in-hand in creating a more equitable system for BIPOC candidates to run for office and get elected.
“[It] is not only representation and making sure we’re developing a pipeline of Native leaders and BIPOC folks that can run and win through a ranked-choice voting system,” Miller said. “But also, how are we teaming up and making sure we’re paying our elected and public officials a livable wage?”
The Oregon State Legislature is technically a part-time job, paying a base salary of about $35,000 a year. Yet the job is getting increasingly more time-consuming, making it less like part-time work.
Legislators are essentially working a full-time job, earning a part-time wage, according to Miller. That means those who can run are affluent or retired, while everyone else usually needs to work another part-time job to get by, which Miller says is an equity issue because many potential candidates can’t afford to run.
“At the end of the day, we’re not sure we can have ranked-choice voting and bring in additional representation for folks that look like us and are representative of us, of folks who live in the district or the state, if we’re not also equally, on the flip side, compensating folks to stay in that office,” Miller said.
Opposition and concerns
In early October, OPB reported that nearly half of the county clerks in Oregon were raising concerns over the measure. County clerks, who are responsible for mailing ballots and registering voters, are supposed to remain unbiased in overseeing elections.
In Oregon, 17 of the 36 county clerks endorsed a political action committee that has pushed back on Measure 117.
The main concerns expressed by the clerks relate to the cost of implementing ranked-choice voting and the lack of staff and software to update it, according to OPB. Clerks also said they are worried about the potential to confuse voters and delay elections, though the clerks maintained they will not tell Oregonians to vote one way or another.
Others have expressed similar concerns about how changing the system could complicate elections, according to Smith, who in response points to the long history of ranked-choice voting used across the world.
“[The current system] is a British colonial system,” Smith said. “[Voters] have to trust the system, right? And right now, there’s no trust in the system, and rightfully so.”
But changing the system in this case does not mean going to something experimental and brand new. This form of ranked-choice voting has long been used in other countries such as Ireland, according to Smith. It is also currently used in 50 jurisdictions across the United States, according to Caroline Phillips, communications director at Oregon Ranked Choice Voting and the Yes on 117 campaign.
In Oregon, Benton County created a model for other jurisdictions when voters approved ranked-choice voting in 2016, first using it in 2020, with Portland now also using it for city elections.
Those endorsing Measure 117 believe it will give Oregon voters more autonomy to vote for candidates they believe represent their values, regardless of party affiliation. It’s about giving voters more power with their ballots, according to Phillips.
“I think the most important thing to remember is all Oregon voters deserve to elect candidates that really best represent us in our communities,” Phillips said. “Right now, there’s a very real feeling that no matter how you vote, your voice doesn’t really matter in an election, and I think that’s because our current voting system doesn’t really empower us to put those candidates who would best serve us as our favorite.”
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