Nearly a decade after Maine became the first state to approve the use of ranked-choice voting for statewide elections, it has yet to fully implement the system.
(Republished with permission from The Maine Monitor)
By MATT JUNKER | The Maine Monitor
Mainers decided to begin using ranked-choice voting in elections for the state Legislature, governor and federal offices all the way back in November of 2016 — the first state in the nation to do so.
But nearly a decade and multiple court cases later, full implementation of that new system approved by 52 percent of voters has languished in a sort of legal and administrative purgatory. Ranked-choice voting is used in state and federal primaries. It is also used in federal races during the general election. But it is not used in general elections for state representative, state senator or governor.
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In the Democratic and Republican primaries this June, Maine voters will rank candidates for governor, the state Legislature and federal offices in order of preference. In this system, if one candidate is the first-choice pick of more than half the voters, that candidate is declared the winner. If no one gets more than 50 percent, there could be another round of counting, with candidates in last place eliminated and their votes reallocated to voters’ second-choice picks. That process can continue for multiple rounds until one candidate secures more than 50 percent and wins the election.
However, that same system won’t be employed across the board in November’s general election, where ranked-choice voting could be used for the U.S. Senate and congressional races but won’t determine who serves in the State House or as governor. Those state general elections still feature the more traditional approach of plurality voting, where voters choose one candidate, and the person with the highest initial vote tally wins regardless of whether they get more than 50 percent.
If you’re confused, you’re not alone.
“It is confusing for folks,” said Kate McBrien, the chief of staff for Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. “What we hear from everyone is what’s confusing is which races it applies to and why doesn’t it apply to all of them.”
To that end, the secretary of state’s office, tasked with overseeing Maine’s elections, has been hosting community events to help people learn more about ranked-choice voting.
RELATED | Here’s how ranked-choice voting works in Maine
Chrissy Hart, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Maine, an organization that has been at the forefront of the push for ranked-choiced voting in the state, also acknowledged that there is some potential for voter confusion and frustration with the current hybrid landscape.
“We certainly have confidence in the Maine voter and voters’ ability to navigate their ballots, and we do everything we can to support civic education to that end,” Hart said. “But we would vastly prefer to see continuity between what folks experience in the primary and general elections.”
That lack of continuity is not for a lack of public support. Maine voters have twice endorsed a broad use of ranked-choice voting at the polls, both in 2016 and a subsequent statewide referendum in 2018 that prevented lawmakers from delaying implementation. Exit polling conducted by FairVote, an organization that supports ranked-choice voting, suggests that the ranked-choice process has continued to enjoy support from a majority of Maine voters.
NOTE | This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Matt Junker is an elections and government reporter for The Maine Monitor, focusing on the state’s electoral process and decision-making in Augusta. He previously spent more than seven years at the Bangor Daily News, most recently as sports editor after several years working as the paper’s deputy opinion editor. Contact | matt@themainemonitor.org
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