Maine’s Effort to Repeal Ranked Choice Voting Defeated Along Nearly Partisan Lines

Maine’s Legislature officially defeated efforts to eliminate ranked choice voting (RCV) following a nearly party-line vote in the Senate.

Late last month, members of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee were split straight down party lines over LD 234, An Act to Eliminate Ranked-Choice Voting.

While all Republicans on the committee voted in support of doing away with the controversial system, all Democrats opposed the effort.

A similar pattern emerged on the Senate floor, where nearly all Republican lawmakers voted in support of the bill, while all Democratic senators voted against. Joining the Democrats in opposition to repealing ranked choice voting was Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford).

In the wake of the November 5 election — during which a number of critical state, local, and federal races were on the ballot — ranked choice voting took center stage for many Mainers, especially in light of the complications it caused in the highly contested Second District U.S. House race between Democrat incumbent Rep. Jared Golden (Maine-CD2) and former Maine State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent).

Because neither of these candidates won over fifty percent of votes cast — due in large part to a significant number of “blank” first-choice selections and the presence of a declared write-in candidate — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows determined that the state was forced to initiate ranked choice procedures.

After an initial ranked choice tabulation, Rep. Golden claimed victory when the count showed him as having secured more than fifty percent of the vote in District 2.

[RELATED: BREAKING — Maine CD-2 Race Headed for “Ranked Choice Voting” Disaster as Golden Falls Below 50%]

Mainers took the first step toward using ranked choice voting in 2016 when voters approved a citizens initiative by a margin of about 32,000 votes or 4.2 percent.

Following a recount and certification, An Act to Establish Ranked-Choice Voting was enacted and set to take effect for the 2018 election.

After quite a bit of controversy and a People’s Veto effort, the Kennebec County Superior Court ordered the Secretary of State to begin using ranked choice voting immediately in the upcoming 2018 primary elections.

This marked the first statewide use ranked choice voting in the country.

Ranked choice voting went on to play a major role in the November 2018 election, as the system resulted in longtime Republican District 2 Representative Bruce Poliquin losing his reelection bid, paving the way for Golden to first take office.

[RELATED: Ranked Choice Voting — A Brief History for Maine and the Nation]

Ranked choice voting is now playing a significant role in another bill that was first introduced earlier this month.

Under LD 1422, sponsored by Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot), Maine’s most important elections would be determined using open primaries where ballots would be tabulated using ranked choice voting.

With an open primary system, all candidates appear on the same primary ballot regardless of their political party.

[RELATED: Baldacci Bill Would Bring Open Primaries Tabulated with Ranked Choice Voting to Maine]

In practice, this means that all voters would receive the same primary ballot on election day listing all candidates for a given office on the same ballot, including unenrolled candidates and declared write-ins.

Sen. Baldacci’s proposal would then see these open primary ballots tabulated using ranked choice voting. Depending upon the office, either the top two or top four candidates would then go on to appear on the general election ballot.

Theoretically, this means that multiple candidates from the same political party could appear on the general election ballot while other parties may be left off entirely.

A public hearing for LD 1422 has been scheduled for April 16 at 10am in Room 437 of the State House.

Testimony may also be submitted in writing online at www.mainelegislature.org/testimony.