The votes are all counted in the May 9 British Columbia legislative election. The results are: Liberal 43 seats, New Democratic 41 seats, Green 3 seats.
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The editorial page editor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald has this commentary on the May 23 decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on ranked choice voting. The commentary points out the problems that Maine will have in 2018 with no ranked choice voting. It also points out that there appears to be no legal reason why the ranked choice law can’t apply to federal office. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.
On May 22, the New Jersey Green Party gubernatorial nominee, Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, submitted his petition to be on the ballot.
On May 23, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimously that the initiative for ranked choice voting passed by the voters in 2016 conflicts with the Maine Constitution. The Maine Constitution since 1880 has said that winners are determined by plurality. The opinion says that if there were three candidates in a Maine ranked choice election, and one candidate got the most first-choice votes, but after the second- and third-place votes had all been counted, the candidate who had got the most first-choice votes was still defeated, that outcome would not conform to the State Constitution.
Here is the 51-page opinion. The case is Opinion of the Justices, Questions Propounded by the Maine Senate, OJ-17-1. The first forty pages are devoted to procedural questions as to whether the court should even issue an opinion. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.
Proponents of ranked choice voting might have circulated an initiative to amend the state constitution, but Maine does not allow initiatives to change the state constitution.
On May 22, the California Assembly passed AB 469 by 62-8. It shrinks the amount of time in which candidates may circulate petitions in lieu of filing fee. But it reduces the number of signatures required. Statewide office drops from 10,000 to 7,000. U.S. House and State Senate go from 3,000 to 2,000. Assembly from 1,500 to 1,000.