Sten’s impending departure opens up a few cans of worms as far as special elections and public campaign financing go.

I sat down with Auditor Gary Blackmer to try to untangle the situation.

For starters, Blackmer noted that he hasn’t received a resignation from Sten, so technically speaking there’s no open seat yet. Once he gets that letter, the council declares a vacancy and announces when candidates can file for the new open seat—in the past, the council has opened it up the day after officially declaring the seat vacant. Given that Sten’s saying he’ll time his departure within 90 days of the May primary, the race for the open seat will be on that ballot.

But if no one wins an outright majority for that seat in May, the general election timing is tricky. The city rules say it happens 45 days later, but state law is contradictory, and says you have to have at least 45 days to send ballots to overseas military voters (and that clock doesn’t start ticking until the May results are certified)—so the general probably wouldn’t happen in June (also, the Multnomah County Elections office is under construction in June, Blackmer notes, which would further complicate things).

The council could slate the general election later—perhaps in September or November. November means piggybacking on the regularly scheduled election, which saves the city money. But it also means Sten’s seat is vacant much longer, making it harder for the city to do its business. (Speaking of which—the mayor will have to appoint interim commissioners for Sten’s bureaus, in his absence.)

Now, for the public financing part. The candidates currently running for the Adams open seat are knee deep in collecting contributions before the January 31 deadline (Amanda Fritz has already turned hers in). Current rules say those contributions are tied to the seat they’ve already declared for. The council could, however, change the rules to allow candidates to transfer from one open seat to another.

The council could also rewrite the rules regarding how many contributions and in what time frame a candidate for the special election open seat would have to collect.

Sten says that “no one reasonably saw this coming,” so he’s open to amending the rules to allow candidates to hop around.

As for those current candidates, I’ve asked them all if they plan to stay the course, or if they’d consider moving to a different open seat. Chris Smith, whose contribution count is just under 650, says any decision to move around “would depend on what the Auditor does with the rules. I’m not going to sweat that until we know what the rules are. For now, we’re going to maintain laser focus on qualifying by January 31.”

John Branam is sticking with the race he’s currently in:

I’m sorry to see Erik resign. Erik has made great contributions to the city of Portland. He will certainly be missed. I have respected Erik for years and was looking forward to working with him. But I also am looking forward to continuing his good work on public housing and homelessness issues, among other efforts.

In terms of my plans, I’m very focused on gathering the necessary VOE signatures and contributions by January 31, and winning this seat. I’m excited about the new candidates who plan to compete for Erik’s seat. This additional race hopefully will bring more attention to the challenges and opportunities Portland has to become an even greater city.

Charles Lewis hasn’t gotten back to me, but sent out a press release with his general thoughts:

“I personally wish to thank Erik for his many years of public service on the Portland City Council. The city of Portland will be losing a dedicated public servant who made his mark by championing those who were under represented in Portland and had no voice in local politics. I’ve gotten to know Erik over the years and during that time he has consistently stood up to special interests and worked tirelessly to return city hall to the people of Portland. From participating in the voter funded election system to standing up for affordable housing, Erik has dedicated many years of his life to making Portland a better place. I wish him the very best in his future plans and again thank him for his service to the city of Portland.”