A group of Republican lawmakers in Maine are hoping to repeal Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) this legislative session.
LD 234 — An Act to Eliminate Ranked-Choice Voting — was sponsored by Rep. Richard H. Campbell (R-Orrington) and cosponsored by Rep. Amy Bradstreet Arata (R-New Gloucester), Rep. Irene A. Gifford (R-Lincoln), Rep. Randall Adam Greenwood (R-Wales), Rep. Abigail W. Griffin (R-Levant), Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield), Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips), and Rep. Tiffany Strout (R-Harrington).
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 District 2 House race between incumbent Rep. Jared Golden (D) and Maine State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent).
Because neither of these candidates were found to have 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 claimed 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.
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, with 388,273 voting in support of the measure and 356,621 in opposition.
Following a recount and certification, An Act to Establish Ranked-Choice Voting was enacted and set to take effect for the 2018 election.
In 2017, the Maine Senate asked the state Supreme Court to issue an advisory opinion on the Constitutionality of the new law. The Justices unanimously found that the new voting system violated several clauses of the Maine Constitution establishing that state officials must be elected by a plurality, not a majority as ranked choice voting requires.
Under ranked choice voting, if a candidate does not receive at least 50 percent of the votes cast in a given election, the candidate who received the least number of votes is eliminated and officials must consider who that person’s supporters indicated were their second choice. Those votes are then distributed to the appropriate candidates.
Depending upon how many candidates participated in the race and how the votes were divided among them, this process may be repeated multiple times, as it must continue until someone emerges with more than 50 percent support.
In light of the Supreme Court’s 2017 advisory opinion, state lawmakers attempted to delay implementation of ranked choice voting until 2022, approving a clause that would only allowing the law to stand if the state constitution were successfully amended in the meantime to accommodate the majority-based system.
Although this legislation became law without the governor’s signature, a People’s Veto effort ultimately repealed the portion of the bill which would have repealed ranked choice voting in the absence of appropriate constitutional amendments.
The People’s Veto succeeded by more than 21,000 votes, representing nearly 8 percent of ballots cast in the election.
Leading up to the June 2018 election, the Kennebec County Superior Court ordered the Secretary of State to begin using ranked choice voting immediately in the upcoming 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.
The race went to ranked choice voting procedures after neither of these candidates received over fifty percent of the vote in the first round, at which point Golden was narrowly declared the winner.
Based on the results from Round 1 of the election, Poliquin would have won the race, as he received 46.3 percent support, representing a 2,171 vote lead over Golden.
In Round 2, however, Golden emerged victorious with 50.6 percent of the vote, holding a 3,509 vote lead over Poliquin. Two third party candidates participated in the race, resulting in a total of 23,427 votes being transferred in the second round to the two major party candidates.
As a result of this, Poliquin became the first incumbent District 2 representative to lose a reelection bid since 1916.
Nationwide, ranked choice voting is not a common means by which citizens cast their ballots in primary or general elections. To date, the system has only been approved statewide in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington DC.
There are a number of municipalities that have adopted ranked choice voting for local elections, including in California, New York, and Minnesota, among others.
Alaska narrowly rejected an effort in November to repeal its open primary and ranked choice voting system, with just 737 votes separating support from opposition, representing only .2 percent of votes cast.
The Republican-led bill to repeal ranked choice voting in Maine will go before the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee for a public hearing and further consideration at some point this legislative session.
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