Early ranked-choice voting leaders won in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Nearly a month after the election, Multnomah County has officially certified the results of Portland’s ranked-choice voting debut.

Although the winners have been declared for several weeks now, the Elections Division’s final results revealed that the new form of voting still gave residents an accurate preliminary look at who would cross the finish line.

In the first count for the City of Portland’s mayoral race, which was released at 8:15 p.m. on election night, political newcomer Keith Wilson led with 36% of the vote. City Commissioners Rene Gonzalez, Carmen Rubio and Mingus Mapps followed with 20%, 19% and 14%, respectively.

The final count, Round 19, shows Wilson won with 63% of the vote. The only other candidate who hadn’t been defeated by this round was Rubio, with 37% of the tallies.

But voters also determined who would take over the new, 12-person Portland City Council, with three councilors poised to represented each of the city’s four districts.

Candace Avalos, Loretta Smith and Jamie Dunphy gathered 16%, 14% and 12% of District 1's votes, respectively, in the first round. Noah Ernst fell out of the top three with 10% and three other candidates were tied for 10%. Still the final results released on Monday show the initial frontrunners are set to take office early next year.

The same goes from District 2, where Dan Ryan, Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Sameer Kanal were declared as the elected councilors after receiving the most votes in the first count.

Incoming District 3 Councilors Steve Novick, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo also maintained their leads from Round 1 through Round 30.

In District 4, Olivia Clark led the first count with 27% while Mitch Green, Eric Zimmerman and Eli Arnold each trailed closely after one another with 11%. Ultimately, Clark, Green and Zimmerman secured spots on city council.

Portland’s new city leaders will be sworn in on Thursday, Dec. 19.