The short answer to the above important question is YES.  You will be able to indicate your preferences for candidates for president when you fill out your ballot this November.  But I do not blame you if you are confused by the recent headlines and articles concerning ranked-choice voting. You are probably saying to yourself, “Didn’t we vote on ranked-choice voting twice and approve it twice?  Why are we still arguing about it?” I will try to explain the situation quickly in laymen’s words.

In November 2016, the people of the State of Maine voted by referendum to use ranked-choice voting for almost all elections —primaries and November elections — of state and federal officials — governor, state senator, state representative, US senator, and US representative, but not US president.

Some Maine state officials felt that ranked-choice voting was not allowed by the Maine State Constitution.  The question was put before the judges of the Maine State Supreme Court for their individual opinions.  The judges individually felt that ranked-choice voting was unconstitutional for November elections of state senators, state representatives, and governor(type A elections).

But the judges felt that ranked-choice voting was constitutional for primary elections for state senators, state representatives, and governor, and for November elections of US senators and representatives (type B elections).

In other words, ranked-choice voting was constitutional for five of the eight elections in question.

The task of fixing this conundrum fell to the Legislature. In fall 2017, the Legislature passed a bill saying that ranked-choice voting could not be used in any state election until ranked-choice voting became consistent with the State Constitution by the passage of a constitutional amendment that would allow it. That bill ignored the fact that ranked-choice voting was constitutional for type B elections.

Supporters of ranked-choice voting decided to attempt a People’s Veto (the 2018 People’s Veto), a strategy that is permitted by the State Constitution and has been used many times. They legally collected far more than enough valid signatures to enact the veto. The veto meant that ranked-choice voting would be used in 2018 for type B elections but not for type A elections, and that the voters of Maine would vote again on ranked-choice voting, but this time with the clarification that they would be voting only to allow ranked-choice voting for type B elections, thereby removing any doubt about the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting for type B elections.

Ranked-choice voting was used in the type B 2018 primary and November elections.  And in November 2018, Maine voters said again in a new referendum that they liked ranked-choice voting and wanted to use it.

The issue of using ranked-choice voting for presidential elections had not been addressed before 2019. The 2019 Legislature addressed the issue and passed two bills relating to ranked-choice voting in presidential elections. The first bill said that ranked-choice voting would be used in primary elections for U.S. President. Gov. Janet Mills did not sign it or veto it, so it will not go into effect until 2024.

The second bill said that ranked-choice voting would be used to determine the electors sent to the electoral college to determine our next president. Mills did sign the second bill, making ranked-choice voting the method for determining the electors for the 2020 presidential election.

But a group of unhappy citizens decided to try for a Citizen’s Veto of that bill. They collected, largely through the use of paid signature collectors, enough signatures to put the 2020 Citizen’s Veto into effect. But supporters of ranked-choice voting challenged this 2020 Citizen’s Veto.

They checked the petitions and found that many of the signatures were duplicates, were from people not registered to vote, the signatures did not match signatures on file or the signature collectors were not themselves registered to vote at the time they collected the signatures. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap reviewed the petitions, and found that the Citizen’s Veto attempt was in fact invalid.  Not enough valid signatures had been collected.

The unhappy proponents of the Citizen’s Veto took the issue to court.  The Superior Court judge ruled that many of the signatures were in fact invalid at the time they were collected. But he also said that some of them had become valid after the petitions had been turned in because some signature collectors did register to vote after they had been found to be in violation of the rules.  By the judge’s new accounting, the proponents of the 2020 Citizen’s Veto on ranked-choice voting in presidential elections had 22 signatures more than the 63,067 that were required.

The supporters of ranked-choice voting were not happy with the judge’s decision. They took the issue to the Maine Supreme Court, and it agreed to hear the case. The court ruled temporarily that the appeal to the Supreme Court delays the action of the Superior Court until the Supreme Court has heard all the arguments and ruled on the merits of the case, which it will do in a few months.

Therefore the Secretary of State can print the ballots immediately, which is needed in order to mail ballots to those who have requested them. If, in a few months, the Supreme Court upholds the decision of the Superior Court, the Citizen’s Veto will go into effect in 2024. If the Supreme Court rules against the decision of the Superior Court, then the issue of the Citizen’s Veto of ranked-choice voting in presidential elections will be dead.

The crux of this is that you will get to use ranked-choice voting in the upcoming presidential election of 2020. And you will get to use it in the elections for US senator and US representative.

Maine is the only state that has the option of ranked-choice voting in so many of its elections.

And it is an option.  No one forces you to vote for more than one candidate.  If you don’t like it, you have the option of just voting for your first-choice candidate.

Ranked-choice voting is non-partisan.  It is a shame that a small faction of Mainers has foisted all this confusion onto the voters when the voters have said twice that they want to use ranked-choice voting.

Ben Lounsbury is the Co-Chair of Ranked Choice Voting for Androscoggin County.

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