Gavin McInnes, popular right-wing provocateur, used his 240,000 Twitter followers to try to sway results in The Oregonian/OregonLive's 2017 Person of the Year poll on Tuesday.

The leader of the conservative group Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, surged to the top of unofficial online results after McInnes, based in New York, tweeted his call to action.

"Please help trigger the entire state of Oregon by scrolling down this link and voting for Patriot Prayer hero @JoeyRockstone as Person of the Year," wrote McInnes, using Gibson's Twitter handle.

A writer and political commentator, McInnes is also the founder of The Proud Boys, which bills itself as a street-fighting "pro-Western fraternal organization." Members have made regular appearances alongside Gibson at his rallies in the Portland area.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Gibson had surged from the low single digits just two days ago to nearly 28 percent of all votes cast. The inclusion of Gibson on the list of 2017 newsmakers didn't sit right with some readers for a variety of reasons, including for the fact he does not live in Oregon. Similarly, in 2016, some readers objected to Ammon Bundy's presence near the top of poll results, fearing his supporters were gaming the system. Jason Goodding, slain Seaside police sergeant, was ultimately named 2016 Person of the Year.

This year, Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, the two men fatally stabbed aboard a MAX train in May, held second place with 19 percent as of Tuesday, followed by the group of Oregon firefighters who battled blazes in the Columbia River Gorge this summer with 13 percent.

The online poll closes at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The top 10 candidates will appear in a second round of voting starting Thursday. The Oregonian/OregonLive reserves the right to ensure our local community's voice is heard in the voting.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive