Maine is the first state to ever use the ranked choice voting system starting only last year. Since then, a flurry of states and localities have been considering a switch to the unique system. Across the country, Republican legislators are introducing many of the new ranked voting bills, showing that partisanship need be part of the ranked voting reform battle.
Unfortunately, in Maine ranked voting has become a partisan football. Therefore it is no surprise that a Republicans in Maine have launched their latest salvo against ranked voting. From Richard Winger of Ballot Access News:
Six Maine Representatives and one Maine State Senator have introduced LD 114. It proves for a top-two system. Ranked choice voting would still be used in the primary, but not in the general election. Write-in space would be eliminated in the general election. Here is the text.
The Maine Constitution requires that state offices be filled by plurality, not majority. The Maine Supreme Court has already ruled that this means that ranked choice voting can’t be used for state office. Therefore, it would seem the same decision would also prohibit LD 114 from taking effect, if it were passed. The authors did not provide for any ballot language explaining to voters that the party label on the ballot does not mean the candidate is a party nominee.
Get more on that announcement from Ballot Access News. Here is the key quote from LD 114:
As a result, ranked-choice voting will no longer be used in general elections for United States Senator and United States Representative to Congress. Instead, the candidate who receives a plurality of votes at the general election will be elected to those offices.
So what is ranked choice voting?
According to Democracy Chronicles’ friends at at the nonpartisan nonprofit FairVote, an organization with its headquarters in Takoma Park, Maryland:
Ranked choice voting (RCV) makes democracy more fair and functional. It works in a variety of contexts. It is a simple change that can have a big impact. With ranked choice voting, voters can rank as many candidates as they want in order of choice. Candidates do best when they attract a strong core of first-choice support while also reaching out for second and even third choices.
When used as an “instant runoff” to elect a single candidate like a mayor or a governor, RCV helps elect a candidate that better reflects the support of a majority of voters. When used as a form of fair representation voting to elect more than one candidate like a city council, state legislature or even Congress, RCV helps to more fairly represent the full spectrum of voters.
Other states and localities that have recently seen legislation proposed to make a switch to ranked choice voting include Connecticut, Vermont, the city of Baltimore, and at least four cities in Utah. Click those four links for the related Democracy Chronicles coverage.
What is top-two voting?
Top-two voting is also known by multiple other names like nonpartisan blanket voting or qualifying voting. According to the Wise Geek article, What is the blanket primary, “in a blanket primary, unlike an open primary, voters choose candidates for each office without regard to party. The candidates with the highest votes by party for each office advance to the general election, as the respective party’s nominee.”
Thankfully for those interested in this election method, two of the leading election policy authorities on California’s top-two system of voting recently went head-to-head in a moderated debate put together by Ballotpedia. The webinar is described by Ballotpedia videos:
Under California’s top-two primary system, all candidates seeking a particular office, regardless of party, appear on the same primary ballot. This system makes it possible for the top two vote-getters who advance to the general election to be from the same party… Both Peace and Winger will bring years of experience to this discussion making it a webinar not to miss.
James Stephen Peace is an interesting character for sure. Peace co-produced the cult hit film ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes’ and served 20 years in California’s legislature. He is also the founder of the Independent Voter Project that supports nonpartisan election reforms. The webinar is about 45 minutes. Take a look:
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