PORTLAND, Ore. — The 2024 general election is less than two months away, and it's a big one for Portland. Not only will the city be using its new ranked-choice voting system for the first time, but every single elected office in the city government will be on the ballot.
It's an unprecedented situation for the city that normally only votes for half of its elected officials at a time. Given that they all serve four-year terms, it's natural to wonder what this year's free-for-all will mean for the winners when the next election arrives in 2026.
Here's what we can VERIFY:
THE QUESTION
Will some of the winners in this year's Portland City Council election serve shorter terms than others?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, half of the 12 winners in this year's election will serve shortened two-year terms on the council to set up future staggered elections.
WHAT WE FOUND
Portland will complete its transition to an all-new form of government on Jan. 1, replacing the current five-member city council with a new governing body composed of 12 councilors, three from each of the city's four new geographic districts. Portland voters ordered the change when they passed a charter reform measure in 2022.
The new charter is a top-to-bottom overhaul that changes the way the city is managed and governed, as well its voting system, but one feature of the old system is sticking around: Officials will all serve four-year terms, with the start dates staggered so that elections happen every two years.
Under the current system, that means the mayor and two of the four city commissioners are elected in presidential election years, and the city auditor and the other two commissioners are elected in midterm years.
Under the new system, the mayor and all city council seats for districts 1 and 2 will appear on the ballot during presidential election years — starting with this year — while the auditor and council seats for districts 3 and 4 will be be on the ballot in midterm years, starting with the next midterm elections in 2026.
But this year is a special case because it's the first election under the new system, and none of the elected officials under the current system will carry over next year — even the ones who were only elected two years ago will be out of office on Jan. 1.
That means all 12 council seats, plus the mayor and auditor seats, have to be filled in one shot with the 2024 election — otherwise, the auditor's office and half the council seats would be empty until after the first regularly scheduled election for those seats in November 2026.
But it also means that the winners of this year's races for auditor and districts 3 and 4 will only get to serve two-year terms, because at the end of 2026, they'll have to make way for the start of the regular four-year term cycle for those seats — though, of course, the people who win those seats in 2024 will be free to run again in 2026 to try to retain them.
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