I read that the Maine Supreme Court is hearing arguments, on April 1, about ranked choice voting (RCV) and it got me thinking about how much my own move from Framingham, Massachusetts, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, changed the way I look at voting.

When I lived in Framingham, we never had enough candidates to get a real conversation going, mostly because people were scared of a “spoiler” and ending up with someone they wanted the least.

When I moved to Cambridge, my experience was different. Cambridge has been using RCV in municipal elections since 1941. Because we use RCV, candidates ask to be everyone’s second or third choice if they can’t be their first, which forces them to be likable to more people if they want to win. Some even work together to get elected.

I know Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is stuck on the “plurality” wording in the Constitution, but to me, that feels like a legal technicality. Historically, Maine went to a plurality in 1880 just to make sure voters — not politicians — picked the winner. RCV doesn’t get around that. It’s just a smarter, 21st-century tool to find the person who actually has the most support of the people.

The court has a chance to help Maine keep voters’ intentions and show the rest of the country that they don’t have to settle for the “lesser of two evils” when voting.

Caraline Levy
Cambridge, Mass.