Maine Clean Elections - The court’s opinion is just that, not a ruling, but an opinion. RCV is
still the law of the land, but the court has now made it clear that if
an actual RCV challenge came forward, they believe it would be struck
down. The risk of moving forward with the RCV law for state offices may
throw some of the results of the 2018 elections into question. In their
opinion, the court lays out how the legislature could rectify the
situation by either: 1) advancing a state constitutional amendment or 2)
repealing the portion of the law that conflicts with their opinion.
State Senator Cathy Breen (D – Falmouth) has indicated that she
will introduce a state constitutional amendment. To advance this resolve
at this point in the session, the Legislative Council, the governing
group of House and Senate party leaders, would need to grant the bill
special permission to move forward. From there, the House and Senate
would need to pass the measure by a 2/3 vote in both chambers before it
is sent to referendum in November, where it would require a majority
vote at the polls. There appears to be very little support among
Republican leaders or rank-and-file members for RCV, making it unlikely
that Sen. Breen’s bill will make it through Legislative Council, let
alone gain the necessary votes on the House or
Senate floor.
With an amendment strategy all but doomed, it seems likely there
will be efforts to repeal all or part of the RCV law during the final
few weeks of legislative session. RCV advocates, including MCCE, The
Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, the League of Women Voters of Maine,
and FairVote, are committed to preserving as much of the law that
voters passed as possible. We firmly believe that those portions of the
law not affected by the court ruling should still stand, most notably
those pertaining to federal races.
Other municipalities that have RCV, including Portland (ME), have
some races run under RCV, while others follow the “pick one” method of
voting. In Portland and many other cities, voters and election
administrators have been able to navigate and successfully hold
elections in this manner. It’s important lawmakers in Augusta hear from
the voters ASAP – that this law passed by the second highest vote total
in the history of Maine ballot initiatives and we voters want to retain
as much of the law as possible. We urge our senators and representatives
to resist repealing the people’s will wholesale.
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