Referendum Question 5 would allow voters to rank candidates, from first to last choice and to require a majority of the vote to win in elections for governor and the U.S. and Maine Senate and House.

In 1820, the Constitution of Maine required a majority of the vote to be elected governor, based on the principle that the candidate who received more than 50 percent of the vote represented most of the people. However, there was a problem which was practically impossible to resolve if there were more than two candidates and no candidate received a majority. There was only one solution and although the framers of the Constitution opposed a plurality, or the most-votes wins system, it had to be adopted in 1880.

A plurality was avoided because, with more than two viable candidates, the percentage needed to win declines below 50 percent, without any minimum threshold to be elected.

Today, as independent and third party candidates receive more of the vote, the plurality system allowed five of the past 11 governors to be elected by less than 40 percent of the vote.

Ranked-choice voting requires a candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote to win. Had ranked-choice voting been in effect in those five elections for governor, 10 percent more of the vote, or about 50,000 votes, would have been included in each election to determine the winner.

Ranked-choice voting elects the candidate who represents the majority of the people.

Bradley Dooling, Winthrop

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