Maine’s Supreme Court today issued an Advisory Opinion stating its belief that ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) is in conflict with the Maine State Constitution when applied to General Elections for Governor and State Legislature.
The Law, however, does remain fully in effect. This ruling has no binding Impact and does not apply to use of RCV for all of Maine’s Congressional and State Primaries in 2018 and its U.S. Senate and U.S. House Elections in November 2018.
Maine Voters embraced RCV because they wanted a stronger Voice, more Civil Campaigns, and to Reform the Toxic Politics. This opinion will not stand in the way of the will of the people. RCV is still plainly Constitutional for Major Offices in Maine, including Elections for U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Those Elections have been affected by Split-Votes in the past, and will benefit from the use of RCV going forward.
Fair Vote looks forward to working with the Coalition on the ground in Maine on a successful implementation of RCV in 2018, and on building even more National Momentum for this Proven and Constitutional Reform to give Voters morePpower.
RCV remains on the move nationally: This year 19 other States had Legislation on RCV, and Chambers supporting its use in Federal Offices included the Utah House of Representatives and Hawaii House of Representatives.
For comment on the response on the Ground in Maine, please contact Jill Ward, President of the League of Women Voters of Maine at 207-317-6310 or Kyle Bailey with the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting at 207-939-8600.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment