Transparency is essential to building trust in elected officials. Voters rightfully want to know who funds the candidates asking for their vote.
In 2018, Portland voters passed Question 2, which amended the city charter to require municipal candidates to disclose their donors 42 days prior to Election Day. The initiative passed with support from 75 percent of Portland voters. Prior to this amendment, municipal candidates in Portland were only required to disclose their donors 11 days before the election.
After the success of Question 2, a group of Portland activists have come together to form the Fair Elections Portland campaign. Fair Elections Portland is working to create a public funding, "Clean Elections" option for municipal candidates in order to reduce the amount of money in local elections as well as the influence of wealthy donors and special interests. Additionally, Fair Elections Portland worked to expand the use of Ranked-Choice Voting to city council and school board.
Together, we accomplished two major initiatives for Portland:
- Passed in 2019: Expand Ranked Choice Voting to school board and city council races, ensuring winning candidates represent a true majority of voters.
- Passed in 2022: Establish a public funding system for school board, city council, and mayoral candidates, stemming the tide of big money’s influence and enabling more candidates to run competitive races. Portland’s recent charter amendment requires the city to implement a public campaign funding system, to go into effect for the 2023 election.