Analysis of Election Systems for the Portland, OR City Council

Portland, Oregon had 583,776 residents as of the 2010 Census. Table 1 shows the demographic breakdown of the city by total population, Voting Age Population (VAP) and Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP). Portland does not have a sizable single minority group, but the non-White share of total population is 27.75%. We use the term POC (people of color) to refer to residents who are Hispanic or have selected a non-White race in the Census (or both). The POC share of CVAP is 22.18% and the POC share of VAP is 23.89%. The distribution of POC residents across Portland is show in Figure 1.