• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. ranked-choice voting>

Maine GOP challenges expansion of ranked-choice voting

Bill Theobald
February 19, 2020
Maine voters

Sen. Susan Collins, whose Portland office was overrun by Maine voters during the Brett Kavanaugh nomination hearings (above), will still compete in a ranked-choice election even if the state GOP blocks its use in the presidential voting.

Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Maine, one of the birthplaces of the ranked-choice voting movement, is facing pushback from Republicans who don't want it in the fall presidential election.

Earlier this month the state Republican Party filed paperwork proposing a referendum in November on repealing a law, enacted less than a year ago, allowing Mainers to be the country's only 2020 voters who list their presidential choices in order of preference — with third-party candidate support in all likelihood redistributed to the major party nominees.

Simply gathering the required 63,000 signatures in the next three months would halt the use of so-called RCV on the presidential line in November — which would represent a major setback for an alternative voting system that's been gaining significant national acceptance in recent years.


In 2016, Maine voters approved a referendum adopting ranked voting for all state and federal primary elections and general elections for Congress. Voters overturned a legislative repeal in 2018. Last year, the Legislature extended the system to apply to the presidential election this fall and to the presidential primaries in four years.

Eighteen cities have adopted RCV and additional communities — most notably New York City — will come on board in the near future.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Early voters in the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses this week are using ranked-choice voting in a limited form. And four other states — Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and Kansas — will use it to allocate delegates in their Democratic primaries in April and May.

Advocates of ranked-choice voting say it provides a truer representation of voters' wishes and reduces attacks by candidates on each other. That's because candidates will not want to alienate voters who may support another person. Opponents argue the system confuses voters and strays from fundamental tenets of American democracy.

"One person, one vote is a bedrock American principle," said Demi Kouzounas, chairwoman of the Maine GOP. "Ranked-choice voting is a direct violation of that principle and threatens the rights of all Mainers and delegitimatizes our election process."

Kathleen Marra, chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party, responded by saying "this new attempt is nothing more than an effort to protect President Trump and reject the will of the voters."

Getting the referendum on the ballot would not interrupt the use of RCV in down-ballot contests. Maine is hosting one of the hottest Senate races in the country, with incumbent Republican Susan Collins facing Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon and a handful of minor candidates. Democrat Jared Golden, who won an upset election to the House two years ago with the benefit of an RCV surge when first-round ballots were redistributed, is being challenged intensely in his re-election bid.

Maine has voted Democratic in seven straight presidential contests, but in 2016 Donald Trump was able to secure one of its four electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states where those votes are not awarded winner take all.

From Your Site Articles
  • Democrats start symbolic bid to make ranked-choice voting the ›
  • Maine 1st to OK ranked-choice voting in presidential general - The ... ›
  • Ranked-choice voting stumbles in Iowa, Nevada, Alaska, Maine ... ›
  • Maine may drop RCV in presidential race this fall - The Fulcrum ›
  • Ranked-choice voting survives challenge in Maine - The Fulcrum ›
  • Judge blocks use of RCV in Maine presidential balloting - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Maine Poised To Be First State To Use Ranked Choice Voting In A ... ›
  • Ranked-choice voting: Maine proved the concept in 2018 midterms ›
  • Maine's ranked-choice recount controversy, explained - Vox ›
ranked-choice voting

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Joe Weston
24 March

Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Joan Blades
24 March

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Our Staff
24 March

Political brain fog

Lawrence Goldstone
23 March

Sounding the alarm over TDS

Lynn Schmidt
23 March

Podcast: Redefining conservatism for millennials

Our Staff
23 March
Videos

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Our Staff

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Our Staff

Video: We asked conservatives at CPAC what woke means

Our Staff

Video: DeSantis, 18 states to push back against Biden ESG agenda

Our Staff

Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Our Staff

Video: What would happen if Trump was a third-party candidate in 2024?

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Our Staff
24 March

Podcast: Redefining conservatism for millennials

Our Staff
23 March

Podcast: Break out of your bubble: Talk to a stranger

Our Staff
22 March

Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Our Staff
21 March
Recommended
Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Comedy
Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Pop Culture
Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Big Picture
Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Podcasts
Political brain fog

Political brain fog

Big Picture
Sounding the alarm over TDS

Sounding the alarm over TDS

Threats to democracy