On October 23, the Maine legislature passed LD 1646. It suspends ranked choice voting in both 2018 and 2020, and repeals it effective 2021 if the Maine State Constitution doesn’t get changed by then to permit ranked choice voting in general elections for state office. The procedure to change the Maine constitution starts with a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
The House initially passed a version of the bill that would have allowed ranked choice voting to be used for primaries, and for congressional elections, in 2018. But the Senate amended it to suspend ranked choice voting. Finally, after many votes, the House agreed to the Senate version. Here is the Senate roll call. Generally Democrats voted in favor of ranked choice voting and Republicans voted against it. The Senate vote was 19-16.
Supporters of ranked choice voting are free to launch a referendum petition against LD 1646, and they may do so. If the referendum gets enough signatures, there would be another vote of the people. The voters had passed ranked choice voting a year ago.
How many incumbent gerrymander robot HACKS care ONLY about staying in POWER ??? —
IE — ZERO about what is obviously coming — A TOTAL econ CRISIS due to govt debts.
PR and AppV.
Damn it pretty getting close, But again bittersweet in end.
They should petition for a Top 2 primary with IRV. This would comply with the state constitution, and actually result in some elections with so many as three candidates. It would also eliminate the barriers to third party and independent candidates.
Top Two is a very bad idea. It actually increases the barriers for 3rd party and independent candidates. Unless you really think that running against 12 people instead of 2-3 people is better for an independent.
@EZK,
Let’s look at Maine specifically.
If a party wants to qualify, they have to have a certain number of registrants, so as to justify having a primary. If someone registers as a Green they are barred from voting in the Democratic primary, where they will at least occasionally have a chance to vote for a candidate who is greener. Because there are so few Green registrants, it is hard to qualify for the primary ballot since petitions have to be signed by party registrants. And if someone wants to vote for a Green candidate, they can do that in the general election, even if they are nonpartisan or unenrolled. It is irrational behavior to register as a Green, which limits the voter’s options in the primary, and does not enhance it in the general. Since it is irrational to register as a Green, few will do so. They will think to themselves, “I’m an independent voter, but I’ll vote for a Green. But there are hardly ever Green candidates. Does the party still exist?”
Since IRV can’t be used in the general election, there might be multiple independent candidates, one Democrat and one Republican. This will increase the likelihood that the Democrat or Republican on a plurality vote, with the independent vote split.
When Angus King was running for governor, he was running TV ads during the Democratic primary saying that the Democratic candidates were just out for themselves, even though he had been a lifelong Democrat. Had it been Top 2 IRV it is unlikely that voters would have ranked all party members above him, when they didn’t do so in the general election.
When King ran for senator in 2012, 14% of Democratic primary voters left the race blank in a 4-way race. They were likely planning to vote for him in the general election, rather than undecided who to vote for. Other Democrats who did vote, were probably just marking every race. In the general election the Democratic candidate got 13% of the vote.
Jim Riley — Is this anything like what you’re talking about? I first got the idea from something you wrote here after the 2016 Maine RCV referendum. The Portland Press Herald published my guest column shortly before the Maine legislature met and voted to delay RCV.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/10/20/commentary-a-simple-constitutional-proposal-could-avoid-spoiler-outcomes-in-maine-elections/