One Democratic lawmaker has proposed making major changes to how Maine’s primary elections are held by instituting a unique and controversial method of ranking choices now well-known to the state’s voters.

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. That would allow voters to cross over and make choices in a party in which they are neither registered nor for whom they tend to vote.

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.

Races for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House would see four candidates move on to the general election, while races for governorship, State Senate, and State House would see only two candidates move forward.

For these races, write-in candidates would not be accepted during the general election.

Click Here for More Information on LD 1422

Nationwide, systems similar to this have only been implemented in only three states: California, Washington, and Alaska.

Nebraska currently utilizes this method as well, but it only does so for state legislative races. Louisiana does not have primary elections at all for state and legislative races, instead holding run-offs if a single candidate does not receive at least 50 percent support.

Right now, Maine has a semi-open primary system where unenrolled voters are given the opportunity to vote in the partisan primary of their choice. Voters who are registered with a political party must participate in their own party’s primary.

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.