Some 388,000 Maine voters said “From now on, it takes a majority of votes to win an election” when they approved the ranked-choice voting citizen initiative last November. Ranked-choice voting is a simple and tested system that gives voters the power to rank their choices. Ballots are counted in rounds in which last-place candidates are […]
ranked choice voting
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Honor the people's will
Just to recap: Gov. Paul LePage won his last election with 48 percent of the vote, totaling 294,533 votes. However, the ranked-choice voting proposition received 52 percent of the vote, with 388,273 votes. The people of Maine have spoken more clearly than ever. The state’s elected representatives have their instructions. The state’s Supreme Court has […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine lawmakers at odds over voter-approved ranked-choice voting
AUGUSTA — The Maine Legislature is again wrestling with whether to implement, delay or repeal a law passed by voters last November that made Maine the first state to approve a statewide ranked-choice voting system to elect legislators, the governor and members of Congress. In 2017, the Legislature three times failed to reach consensus on […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
RCV bill ought to pass
The most important reason to implement ranked-choice voting in all state races is that it is majority voting. Similar to Lewiston’s runoff for multi-candidate races, ranked-choice voting can do the same, instantly and cheaper in one day for all state candidates. A proposed amendment to the ranked-choice voting law offered by LD 1646 provides time […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Support for ranked-choice voting
Ask anyone the meaning of democracy and most will say “majority rule.” Yet, some in the Legislature want to stop ranked-choice voting, which Maine voters enacted in 2016 to make sure their elected representatives were supported by a majority of voters. Voter participation is down because many people believe the system is rigged and controlled […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Mainers should have a choice
Last spring, the Maine Legislature stalemated on a bill to fully repeal ranked-choice voting due, in large part, to the impressive, forceful response from supporters of ranked-choice voting. Unfortunately, opponents of ranked-choice voting are still active in their quest to make sure that Mainers do not have a chance to use ranked-choice voting in the […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Voters made their choice already
Soon, the Maine Legislature will be choosing whether to amend the Maine Constitution to allow ranked-choice voting or to repeal the law that was passed by the voters. It seems to me that the voters made that choice already by passing the law in the first place. The voters of Maine understood that ranked-choice voting […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Ranked choice voting survives repeal effort
AUGUSTA (AP) — A new voting method that Mainers approved in November has withstood a court conclusion that it’s unconstitutional and now a legislative repeal effort. A bill to repeal the ranked-choice voting law died Wednesday following legislative votes. Democratic Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap’s office will begin preparing to implement the system for the […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Uphold the will of the people
In November, the people of Maine chose to adopt a ranked-choice voting (RCV) system that better reflects the will of the people. RCV promotes the inclusion of a more diverse set of candidates for public office and, in time, will help to ease the divisiveness that plagues the current political system. The recent Maine Supreme […]
Posted inLetters
Inplement ranked-choice voting
Last November, my fellow Maine citizens voted in favor of Ranked-Choice Voting. We did it to put power back in the hands of voters and make politicians more accountable to us. We did it so that if our favorite candidate couldn’t win, our vote could be instantly counted for our second choice without the need […]