I still can’t get over the insanity of how Portland is going to pick the new City Council a year from now. The city auditor explains it this way in the newly released “candidate guide”:
Single Transferable Vote (applies to City Councilor contests)
• The end result is 3 winners.
• Any candidate receiving more than 25% of the vote in a given round is declared a winner.
• If any candidate has received more votes than required to win, the surplus of votes for that candidate (i.e., the amount of votes a candidate receives above the threshold of votes to win) is transferred proportionally to each ballot’s next highest-ranked choice. If no winner is determined in a round of counting, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, their votes are moved to each ballot’s next highest-ranked choice, and a new round of counting begins.
It’s stunning, really. What a zoo. Thanks, kids!