Thursday's Democracy Dispatches

Here are some stories we're following from across the country:

Ranked-choice voting moved one step closer to appearing as a referendum on the 2020 ballot in Massachusetts. (Gloucester Daily Times)

Advocates for a pair of election initiatives in Portland, Maine — one to expand the use of ranked-choice voting in city elections and the other to establish a public financing system for local elections — failed to get either on the November ballot. (Portland Press Herald)

A new group is trying to curtail the waiting period for ex-convicts to regain the right to vote in Wisconsin. (Journal Sentinel)