Architects of Portland's expanded City Council, whose members will be selected using ranked-choice voting next week, had grand dreams of a much more ethnically, geographically and economically diverse set of policymakers taking charge.
And political experts who'd watched similar efforts in other cities and states forecasted that candidates would identify as part of policy-aligned slates and catch voters' attention with calls to rank not only themselves but their linked-arm competitors at the top of their ballots.