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In Portland, they are using ranked-choice voting for electing the mayor, council members and an auditor. to decide with a ballot measure if ranked-choice voting should spread to how Oregonians vote for offices including president, members of Congress, governor, secretary of state and more.

At first, understanding ranked-choice voting can make almost anyone feel they are not the sharpest voter on the rolls. It can be hard to understand how it works, without seeing it in action.

The city of Portland has a mock election on its website that enables you to test out ranked-choice voting. After doing the poll, you may feel the same “aha� moment we did.

Go to this website: .

There’s a mock election for what kind of neighborhood event you would most like to attend. There are seven candidate events — a food festival, music in the park, outdoor movie night and so on. You rank up to six.

Now because this is an electronic test you get a little help. There is a reminder clearing your selection if you rank multiple events the same. If you try to rank a candidate twice, a red prompt appears: “Each candidate can only be ranked once.�

Voters won’t get helpful warnings when they are filling in bubbles on a paper ballot. But taking the mock election may help everyone understand a bit better of how the system would work.

If voters approve the Oregon ballot measure in November, the new rules would become operative on Jan. 1, 2028. That would give the Oregon Secretary of State and local county clerks lots of time to help Oregonians understand the new system. You, dear reader, will be ahead of the game if you go now and try the mock election.