Ballot Measure 117 would upend how Oregonians vote.

If passed, some elections would feature ranked-choice voting. Instead of choosing only one candidate — whether someone they liked or the presumed “lesser of two evils” — voters could rank the candidates in order of preference.

“This is a very simple improvement to our elections that’s focused on giving voters more choices on our ballot,” said Caroline Phillips, communications director for Oregon Ranked Choice Voting.

Opponents call it “really confusing voting.”

Meanwhile, county clerks are asking where they’ll get the money to redesign their computer systems and add staff to handle elections that include ranked-choice voting.

“We are not against ranked-choice voting; we cannot support Measure 117 as drafted,” Klamath County Clerk Rochelle Long said. “Bottom line if it passes, we will implement it. But if feels like we are being set up to fail.”

Some election-reform advocates say a better solution would be to open Oregon’s party primaries so everyone could participate, including the 1.1 million non-affiliated voters who are the largest share of the electorate. And backers of the STAR scoring and runoff method, which Eugene voters rejected in May, contend it would be a better voting system.

Democrats in the 2023 Legislature passed HB 2004 on near party-line votes, sending ranked-choice voting to the ballot. Progressive and Democrat-leaning organizations dominate the Measure 117 endorsements.

Republican legislative leaders and the Oregon Republican Party, along with county Republican organizations, lined up against the measure: “It’s confusing, expensive, consolidates power and disenfranchises voters. It’s so bad that legislators forced this on other candidate races, but not their own. It’s not the simple fix they’re selling.”

Ranked-choice voting would apply in races with at least three candidates. If Measure 117 passes, starting in 2028 the new voting system would be:

• used for Oregon’s primary and general elections for president, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state treasurer.

• used for state labor commissioner, who would be elected in May instead of November.

• not used for legislative or judicial races.

• optional for cities, counties, school districts, local service districts and Metro.

Various types of ranked-choice voting are utilized in Maine, Alaska, three counties and 45 U.S. cities, including Corvallis and Benton County in Oregon, as well as Australia and several other countries. Of the different styles, Oregon’s would be most like Maine’s, according to Phillips.

Measure 117 would employ an “instant runoff” system, not the “single transferable vote” that Portland is inaugurating at the Nov. 5 election.

In a report supporting Measure 117, the City Club of Portland said that although every voting system has flaws, ranked-choice voting “increases the likelihood that the winning candidate is more reflective of the majority of voters’ sentiments.”

The report explained the process set forth in Measure 117: “Voters may rank candidates for office in order of preference, choosing to rank multiple candidates or only one candidate for each office. A candidate who receives a majority of voters’ first choices wins the election. However, if there is no majority after tallying first choices, an Instant Runoff, or series of Instant Runoffs, determines the winner. After each round of tabulation the Instant Runoff is conducted by eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes. Voters who ranked the defeated candidate as their top choice have their vote applied to their next-highest-ranked candidate.”

Elections in Oregon are conducted by county clerks. They warned the 2023 Legislature, “Current public confidence in elections is low, and the complications involved with [ranked-choice voting] have the potential to fuel conspiracy theories and allegations related to lack of transparency.”

Clerks from 16 counties — including Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Jackson, Klamath, Morrow and Wallowa — took the unusual step of forming Concerned Election Officials and arguing against Measure 117 in the Voters’ Pamphlet.

Three different vote-tallying systems are used among Oregon counties. Upgrading that software and hardware would be expensive. Some elections would require two types of ballots — one for ranked-choice voting races and one for traditional races. County clerks estimate that implementing ranked-choice voting initially would cost $5.9 million, with continued higher costs for each election.

Because the measure does not require the state to cover those expenses, clerks fear the counties will eat those costs. “They will have to give up other necessities and push them to the back burner to fund a different form of voting,” Long said.

Phillips, the pro-117 campaign spokesperson, countered that ranked-choice voting is a worthy investment in democracy: “Any change to our election systems is going to come with a small cost. And I really want to emphasize that the cost that is associated with Measure 117 is really just a minimal portion of the large state budget.”