How will Portland adapt and redraw its districts as the city grows and experiences demographic shifts in the years to come?

Has democracy, civic trust, and healing societal divisions been on your mind lately? I've begun to wonder what role our institutions play in shaping or promoting ideological polarization. This has led me to question whether Portland’s electoral system—the system we use to elect our leaders—affects how we feel about each other. 

Over the past couple years, Portlanders have consistently identified housing as a priority concern. We've experienced rising housing prices and homelessness. Development of affordable and market rate housing has not met demand. Our research team was interested to learn that local electoral systems may impact housing supply and the provision of public services.

In an effort to contribute to the work journalists do—and help improve our collective understanding of potential implications of the proposal—we'd like to share some responses to statements we've seen in the recent coverage. We hope this helps factually address claims made by advocates for and against Measure 26-228 and supports ongoing reporting of the ballot measure campaign.