Eugene voters lean against changing city election method to STAR Voting

Alan Torres, Eugene Register-Guard
Updated ·3 min read
A leaderboard for the River Road Park & Recreation District in Eugene encourages visitors to vote.
A leaderboard for the River Road Park & Recreation District in Eugene encourages visitors to vote.

About two-thirds of voters had voted "no" on adopting STAR voting after the second round of election returns released Tuesday.

"Looking at these preliminary results, it's not looking good," Sara Wolk, one of the chief petitioners, told the Register-Guard Tuesday night. "We know that we have the reform that the voting-reform community needs."

Wolk attributed the results to "big dark-money misinformation campaigns."

"That's politics as usual, and that's exactly what STAR-voting would have set out to address," she said.

STAR proponents are gathering signatures for an attempt to vote on the reform state-wide in November. The state legislature also placed a measure for ranked-choice voting in Oregon on the ballot this November.

"Eugene voters want change, but reject STAR voting because it's deeply flawed and untested," Brian Smith, a leader of the STAR opposition group, told the Register-Guard, while saying he would continue to advocate for ranked-choice voting. "The serious issues with our electoral system require serious reforms, and I'm ready to work with folks on that."

The second round of returns counted 63,489 ballots county-wide, for about 27% turnout. The last Lane County May election in a presidential year had about 47% turnout. Lane County was scheduled to post the next round of results at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

After the county-wide measure failed in 2018, voters in Eugene are being asked if they want to make changes to the municipal election method.

Voters in the second-largest city in Oregon are deciding if they want to make changes to the municipal election method. It would be the first change to the city charter since the 2019 measure that placed limits on the payroll tax the city implemented that year.

Under the proposed Score Then Automatic Runoff (STAR) voting:

  • Eugene Mayor and City Council will no longer appear on May ballots, with those races being decided in November.

  • Voters will receive both a STAR ballot for Eugene races, along with a traditional ballot for other races.

  • Voters will rate candidates running for Eugene Mayor and City Council from zero to five "stars."

  • Candidates' scores are summed across ballots. The top two candidates then progress to an "automatic runoff."

  • The finalist preferred by more voters wins.

In 2018 STAR proponents gathered enough signatures for Lane County citizens to vote on the reform county-wide. Voters defeated the measure, with 52.4% voting "no," but a majority of voters in Eugene city limits supported the measure, encouraging STAR proponents to regather signatures. If passed, the method would first be used in the 2026 races where four of the eight city council seats will be up for election.

This would be a change from the current method, where Eugene voters may cast a vote for one candidate in May, and if one candidate in a race receives a majority of those votes they progress uncontested to the November election, or the top two candidates run head-to-head in November if no candidate reaches a May majority.

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Election results: Eugene voters leaning against STAR Voting proposal