The following is a guide on how to game the ranked choice voting system in Portland to keep radicals out of office: SIX BOXES: How to Make Your Portland Vote Count: In Portland's 2024 City Council election, nearly 20,000 votes' worth of ballots in one district stopped participating in the count before the election was over. That's almost enough votes to elect an entire City Council member. So what happened? And how does Portland's complicated ranked-choice voting system actually work? Robert Miller is a longtime gaming-industry analyst, former political pollster and policy analyst, with a Ph.D. in operations research. He's closely examined Portland's ranked-choice voting system and uncovered some interesting findings about how votes are counted—and how ballots can become exhausted before all three City Council seats are filled. He is what I would consider the RCV expert in local elections. He also understands that Portland’s voting and government system was created to allow as many radical leftists into government as possible and why we are seeing so many DSA affiliated candidates win seats. Here's what you need to understand. The leftists have gamed the system, so there is a way to fight back with more moderate voters doing the same. Each Portland City Council district elects three councilors. But voters can rank up to SIX candidates, in their order of preference. To win a seat, a candidate needs just over 25 percent of the vote. When a candidate wins, their surplus votes can transfer to voters' next choices. When a candidate is eliminated, their votes can transfer as well. But there's a catch. Your ballot can only transfer to candidates you've actually ranked. In the 2024 District 4 election, when candidate Eli Arnold was eliminated, roughly half the votes assigned to him transferred to Eric Zimmerman, helping elect Zimmerman. The other half had nowhere to go because those ballots had no remaining eligible candidates. According to Miller's analysis, by the end of the count, approximately 19,175 votes' worth of ballots had become exhausted. For comparison, it took 19,180 votes to win a seat. Here's the important distinction: If you rank only three candidates, and none remains eligible to receive your vote, your ballot can stop participating while the count continues. But ranking additional acceptable candidates gives your ballot more opportunities to transfer. And here's something many voters don't realize: Ranking a second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth candidate does NOT hurt your first choice. Those are backup preferences—not additional votes. You can rank up to six candidates. You don’t need to fill every box, but your vote lasts longer in the rotation if you do. Rank candidates in your genuine order of preference, and only include people you would be willing to see elected. Absolutely DO NOT rank individuals you don’t want to win. Even a third or fourth place ranking can help them win. For example, when it comes to Multnomah County Chair, I recommend ranking Sharon Meieran 1st, Julia Brim-Edwards 2nd, and doing a write in for third. Do not rank Shannon Singleton at all. If that's six candidates, you can rank all six. If it's only three, rank three. The important thing is understanding what happens when your ballot runs out of choices. Six boxes. Three City Council seats. One vote that can transfer as the count progresses. Understanding how those rankings work is essential to understanding Portland's elections. Below are our choices for Portland District 3, Portland District 4, and Multnomah County Chair: