New report from AEI by Kevin Kosar, Jaehun Lee, and Jack Santucci:

Our core findings are as follows: 

• Voter Choices. There were more candidates overall in 2024 than in past elections, although each voter could choose only among the candidates who ran in their districts. The number of candidates pursuing each council seat, however, was consistent with those in past elections and sometimes lower. Voters could better express their choices by virtue of ranking their candidate selections and being represented by more than one member. Yet the ranking of candidates had little effect on the outcomes. 
• Increased Voter Turnout. Replacing a two-round election for city council with a general election in November resulted in more votes cast for city council races at the first stage of candidate elimination. But there was no clear increase in voter turnout after Portland enacted its new electoral system. 
• Better Racial Representation. The candidate pool across all districts was racially diverse, with the share of black candidates greatly exceeding the share of blacks in Portland’s population, although Asians, Latinos, and whites were underrepresented in the candidate pool compared to their shares of the population. The racial composition of elected city council members was similarly diverse, with the shares of Asians, blacks, and Latinos elected reaching or exceeding the shares of these groups in the city population. 
• Increased Neighborhood Representation. Dividing the city into four districts with multiple members each probably increased representation from different neighborhoods on the council, yet there are not good data to substantiate this determination. 

It is too early to draw strong conclusions. Limited data availability also makes it hard to provide pre-to-post-reform comparisons in some dimensions. However, this report should be instructive as more cities consider similar changes.