Maybe the best way to understand ranked-choice voting is to imagine we all come together to vote, in an auditorium or community center. Under the old system, if your preferred candidate finishes last, all you can do is go home. Under ranked choice, it is as if voters are being asked to stick around and express their preference about the remaining candidates. If voters’ second choice finishes last in the next round, they can still stick around and continue to be part of the process.

In the end, people wind up with a winner who has the support of at least 50 percent of the voters. So it not only keeps everyone part of the process of selecting a winner, it gives the voting public a much stronger winner than someone who may have won only a plurality of the votes and takes office with the support of fewer than 50 percent of the voters.

It is also more likely that campaigns will stay civil, since the candidates need to speak respectfully of each other so they don’t offend voters whose second-round vote might put them over the top.

Didn’t voters approve RCV already? Yes, but Republicans in Augusta, just as they did with the school funding referendum, have tried to block the will of the people yet again.

Voters need to not only reaffirm on June 12 that they really do want ranked-choice voting, they also need to vote in November for representatives who will truly represent them.

Jonathan Cohen, Farmington

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