A ranked-choice voting system was shot down by Maine’s highest court in a setback for the election method. From a recent article in MaineToday Media:
Maine’s highest court concluded Tuesday that the ranked-choice voting system passed at referendum in November violates the Maine Constitution. In a unanimous advisory opinion, the seven justices on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court acknowledged the validity of citizen-initiative ballot questions but noted that even citizen-enacted laws can be unconstitutional…
The court opinion itself doesn’t negate ranked choice voting, which was supported by 52 percent of voters who cast ballots last fall. The justices instead spelled out the Legislature’s options, noting that lawmakers can now vote to repeal the measure or to initiate the process that leads to a constitutional amendment to allow for ranked choice voting.
See more from the article here. Also, here is some more information on ranked choice voting and instant runoffs from Democracy Chronicles’s friends at FairVote:
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.
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