Municipal Election Recap
Portland’s ranked-choice election for city council makes history with a tie, a drawing of lots, and a recount.
By Tony Zeli
Portland made history when the ranked-choice instant runoff ballot tabulation for the city council at-large seat resulted in a numeric tie. Candidates Brandon Mazer and Roberto Rodriguez each received 8,529 votes. According to state election laws the City had to declare a winner before either candidate could request a recount. This initiated an unusual process – but one required by the city charter – where the clerk drew lots to determine the winner.
Portland City Clerk Kathy Jones conducted the drawing of lots in public at City Hall Plaza at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 4th. Mazer won the draw, and shortly thereafter Rodriguez requested a recount.
The City conducted the recount at Ocean Gateway beginning on Tuesday, November 9th and concluded on Wednesday, November 10th at approximately 1 p.m., when Brandon Mazer conceded.
Discrepancies in Vote Totals
Between the days of November 9th and 10th there was a discrepancy of 26 votes according to Mazer’s recount team. However, the 26-vote discrepancy was from a preliminary, unofficial count that included a double-entry. The City had later corrected the error but Mazer’s team had not updated their own count. Both candidates certified the final hand count tabulation on November 10th, and Rodriguez is the official winner. The final recount totals were 8,549 for Rodriguez and 8,514 for Mazer.
But there was another discrepancy. The number of municipal votes entered and counted on Election Day (21,287) and the number of paper municipal ballots hand counted during the recount (21,251) differed by 36 votes. Despite being unable to change the official results – Mazer had already conceded and the results were certified – the City Clerk searched for an answer. After all, it appeared possible that the recount had missed 36 votes.
Auxiliary Ballots Discovered
On Tuesday, November 16th, two weeks after Election Day, the Clerk discovered 45 auxiliary ballots that never made it to the hand recount. Auxiliary ballots are those that include write-ins or are marked in a way that cannot be read by the scanner. Election officials process these ballots manually and then add them to the computer totals.
According to the Clerk, election workers manually entered the ballots into the electronic records and placed them in an envelope. As such, they were included in the computer totals on Election Day. But that envelope never made it to the recount. The candidates’ recount teams never tallied these auxiliary ballots. The reason for this error is unknown.
The Clerk provided the results of the 45 auxiliary ballots to City Council – although the official result remained unchanged. The 45 ballots contained 20 votes for Mazer, 11 votes for Rodriguez, and 14 exhausted ballots. (Exhausted ballots do not rank a continuing candidate or contain an overvote.) As such, the Clerk’s analysis suggests that the uncounted auxiliary ballots would not have affected the outcome of the election.
9-Vote Discrepancy Continues
Of course, finding those 45 auxiliary ballots does not solve the discrepancy. Now, there is a 9-vote undercount on Election Day. From City Clerk Jones’ memo to the city council on the election results:
At this stage, it is not possible to definitively determine the basis for that 9 ballot difference. The Clerk has, however, been able to attribute most of it to a single district and recount team which tabulated 8 votes more than were electronically tabulated on Election Day. Though it is not clear why the discrepancy exists, we are comforted to know that to the extent it is the result of undercounting on Election Day, the recount process caught the omission and 9 ballots that were not originally included in the City’s tabulation were counted by the campaign’s recount teams. In that way, the recount served its intended purpose and helped to ensure and confirm the accuracy of the election results.
District 2 – Victoria Pelletier Wins
Here are the City’s official results from November 3rd. Victoria Pelletier wins with 56% of the vote against Jon Hinck with 38%. Pelletier will become the next city councilor-elect for the West End, Parkside, St. John-Valley, and Oakdale neighborhoods when sworn in this December. The seat is currently vacant. Spencer Thibodeau stepped down to pursue a position in the Biden administration. He previously announced he would not seek reelection.
Other Municipal Election Results
Anna Trevorrow won District 1 City Council with 50% of vote against Sarah Michniewicz who received 41% of the vote. Abusana Bondo won school board District 1 with 70% of the vote in an unopposed race. Similarly, Emily Figdor won reelection to District 2 school board with 72% in an unopposed race.
For school board at-large, Nyalat Billiew won with 43% of the vote against Sara Thompson 39%. The incumbent and a former chair of the board, Thompson publicly withdrew from the race but could not withdraw her name from the ballot.
Referendum on Portland homeless shelters
Portland’s local referendum question on homeless shelters – and how big they should be – pitted three options against each other. Option A, the amendment to city code that all shelters provide shelter for no more than 50 people failed. This citizen-initiated proposal received only 31% of the vote. However, Question C, the council proposal to cap beds at 150 also failed with only 28% of the vote. With the most support (41%), Option C not to amend city code passed. This clears the way for the City to build a large shelter of 200 beds on the outskirts of the city, as previously approved.
Tony Zeli is publisher and editor. Reach him at thewestendnews@gmail.com.
