Ranked-choice voting conflicts with Maine Constitution, Supreme Court says
The Maine Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that ranked-choice voting conflicts with the state's Constitution.
Voters approved switching to ranked choice voting last November.
The Maine Senate asked the Supreme Court for guidance on the issue.
"The discrepancy between the Act and the Constitution is easily illustrated by the simplest of scenarios. If, after one round of counting, a candidate obtained a plurality of the votes but not a majority, that candidate would be declared the winner according to the Maine Constitution as it currently exists. According to the Act, however, that same candidate would not then be declared the winner," the justices said in their ruling.
The non-binding decision opens the door to either legislative action or a lawsuit to undo the law.
Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen, of Falmouth, said that she will submit an after-deadline bill to amend Maine’s Constitution to allow ranked-choice voting.
Breen’s constitutional amendment will require the approval of the Legislative Council before it can be considered by the Legislature.
Ranked-choice voting creates instant runoff election until one candidate gets a majority of the votes.
The question approved by voters applied to elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. Representative, governor, state senate and state representative.
Proponents of ranked-choice voting say it will prevent a governor from being elected with less than 50 percent of the votes.
That was the scenario when Gov. Paul LePage was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Tap here to read the decision