Maine voters will be faced with a whole lot of candidates next year, and some of those races may be decided using ranked choice voting (RCV). Ranked choice has voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference. Votes are counted and low-ranked candidates are eliminated until one candidate has more than 50 percent. The system was approved by Maine voters in a 2016 referendum. But the Maine Supreme Court justices said they believe the law violates the state constitution, which only requires a plurality of votes for governor and the legislature. The court opinion suggested ranked choice could be used for primary elections and federal races, unless there is a change to the constitution. That hasn’t happened, and lawmakers voted in October to delay the law until 2021. If a constitutional amendment isn’t passed by then, the law would be automatically repealed.
Supporters of RCV are fighting back.
“This is something we can do now with the people’s veto to send a message to the legislature that we insist on having more voice and more choice in our democracy,” said Kyle Bailey, leader of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.
That group has started a people’s veto petition drive to block the law passed by the legislature, and force another statewide vote on the issue in June.
Full Article: 2018 primary could feature ranked choice | WCSH6.com.