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The campaign seeking to change the way Oregon votes continues to attract big money, recording two contributions totaling more than $3 million in the past week.
The Yes on 117 campaign wants to replace the current first-past-the-post way of voting with ranked choice, in which voters rank their candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority on the first tally, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to the next highest choice. That process is then repeated until a candidate gets a majority. The measure applies to federal and statewide races and would go into effect in 2028 if it passes.
The bigger of the two new contributions to Yes on 117—$2.25 million from Article IV, an Arlington, Va., 501(c)(4) nonprofit—has eclipsed Nike co-founder Phil Knight’s check to a GOP legislative PAC earlier this year as the biggest single donation in Oregon politics in 2024.
The executive director of Article IV, Tripp Wellde, explained his group’s contribution to WW in a statement.
“Article IV is an organization focused on providing support and resources to ranked choice voting campaigns across the country,” Wellde said. “We’ve been impressed with the groundswell of support for change in Oregon and seeing the campaign in action as they hit important milestones like garnering the endorsement of over 100 state and local organizations supporting the campaign. We believe politics in Oregon—and across the country—are at an inflection point and we’re proud to support a campaign that gives Oregonians better representation through ranked choice voting.”
Oregon Ranked Choice Voting, a Corvallis non-profit which raises most of its money from out-of-state non-profits, also contributed another $992,000 this week, bringing that group’s total for the campaign to $4.74 million and the campaign’s total raised to nearly $7.4 million.
Related: Cash Pours In to the Campaign to Take Ranked-Choice Voting Statewide
The only political action committee that opposes the measure, Concerned Election Officials, has raised $1,080, which it spent on getting a statement into the voter’s pamphlet. (WW has endorsed a no vote on Measure 117.)
Rochelle Long, the elected Klamath County Clerk and the president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks, says voters should be wary.
“The influx of out-of-state money is very disheartening to watch. We are already dealing with lack of trust and transparency, so having 501c4 non-profit organizations fund millions to the way we vote in Oregon only heightens and adds to this distrust,” Long says. “I question why these non-profit organizations care what form of voting we use in Oregon. Wouldn’t their money be better utilized for other non-partisan purposes rather than trying to promote election reform?”
Ballots must be returned or mailed by Nov. 5.