(The Center Square) — Maine Republicans are renewing a push to repeal the state’s ranked choice voting law, arguing that the method of deciding races is confusing to voters and violates the ‘one person one vote’ premise of state and local elections.
A proposal filed by state Rep. Richard Campbell, R-Orrington, and other GOP lawmakers would repeal a state law governing ranked-choice voting in federal, state and local elections and state primaries and return to the state’s winner-take-all system.
Campbell said there is a growing consensus that ranked choice voting violates the belief in ‘one person, one vote’ principle — “leaving much of the electorate feeling confused and frustrated when the candidate with the most votes loses as a result of applying second choices.”
“Plurality voting has been accepted and worked for decades,” Campbell said in recent testimony on the bill. “Ranked-choice voting further substantiates the public’s rising mistrust in government by introducing unnecessary variables in what should be an easy process.”
But Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat whose office oversees state elections, is among those urging lawmakers to reject the GOP proposal.
Bellows argues that Maine voters “appreciate the option to vote their heart, rather than having to stress and worry that voting for their favorite candidate in a plurality election may end up helping their least favorite candidate win, that they will have to vote for the lesser of two evils, or that their decision will split the vote.
“Voter frustration, often found in that plurality voting, does not always accurately reflect the will of the majority; and this is one of the reasons Maine voters chose RCV,” Bellows said in testimony. “Voters should feel and know that their vote matters, and that the elections they participate in result in representation that mirrors the electorate.”
Maine’s system, approved by voters in 2016, was used in the 2020 presidential election and several congressional races; it has survived repeal efforts and legal challenges.
Unlike the winner-take-all voting system, ranked choice requires voters to list candidates in order of preference. The system comes into play in crowded races when no candidate gets 50% of the votes. When that happens, the candidate who got the least votes is eliminated, and their votes are reallocated and re-tabulated until someone wins a majority.
Supporters of ranked choice say it ensures that winning candidates have broad support and gives voters the option of multiple choices.
Critics say ranked choice voting is too confusing and unconstitutional. They argue that the winner-take-all system is the best way to elect state and local leaders and avoid political shenanigans.
The voting system helped Democratic Rep. Jared Golden defeat Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin in 2018, sparking a legal battle over the results that was eventually tossed out.
More recently, the system was used to decide a race between Golden and Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault after a third write-in candidate received enough votes to trigger the ranked choice runoff between the candidates. Golden was declared the winner of the ranked choice runoff.
The Maine Republican Party unsuccessfully sued to stop the state from using ranked choice in the 2020 election. The suit was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
While some U.S. cities have used ranked choice voting for years, Maine is the only state to have made the switch broadly.
In 2019, lawmakers in at least 22 states introduced bills to adopt various forms of ranked choice voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In Massachusetts, voters rejected a proposal in the 2020 elections to replace the state’s winner-take-all system with ranked choice voting.