logo

Dear Maine Lawmakers, Your Supreme Court Is Wrong About Ranked Choice Voting

image
Created: 26 June, 2017
Updated: 21 November, 2022
2 min read

The Center for Election Science strongly disputes the advisory opinion of the Maine Supreme Court regarding Question 5, the citizens’ initiative that established IRV (Instant Runoff Voting; also called RCV, Ranked Choice Voting) as Maine’s voting system.

We believe the following:

Contrary to what the Supreme Court said, IRV is entirely in keeping with the constitutional requirement that the governor, State Senate, and State House be elected by a “plurality.”

The multiple counting rounds of IRV involve the transfer of votes according to the expressed will of the voters. At the end of those counting rounds, one candidate will have a majority of non-exhausted ballots; that is, of those which express any preference between the remaining candidates.

However, the majority of the non-exhausted ballots may correspond to merely a plurality of all the ballots. Thus, IRV is clearly in accord with the Maine Constitution on this point.

A voter initiative like this enjoys a “heavy presumption” of constitutionality, and thus is not unconstitutional unless there is “no set of circumstances” in which it could be read to be constitutional.

The Supreme Court, by ignoring the perfectly reasonable reading suggested above, overrode the people’s will to choose the electoral mechanism for electing their officers; the very heart of their sovereign democratic powers.

ALSO READ: Sen. King to Maine Lawmakers: Let Voters Decide Fate of Ranked Choice Voting

IVP Existence Banner

IRV is a clear improvement over the prior election mechanism in Maine (and in much of the US), often called First Past the Post (FPTP). FPTP has led to multiple election pathologies in Maine in recent years, and the voters’ decision to replace it was extremely well motivated.

Even if it were unconstitutional to elect the governor, state senators, and state representatives by IRV, it would still be constitutional to elect US senators and members of Congress by that mechanism. Since Maine has an implied severability clause, this portion of the initiative should stand.

Thus the Maine Legislature should, with all due haste, put a constitutional amendment to the voters, to allow them to use their chosen voting mechanism.

In the meantime, Maine legislators should move to implement IRV for electing US senators and members of Congress.


The Center for Election Science did not campaign for Question 5, and has not campaigned for other IRV initiatives that have been put forward in other states or cities. We have typically supported other types of voting method reform.

Thus, our opinion on this matter is not simply a matter of self-interest; we are focused here on the interests of the voters of Maine and of US democracy in general.

Furthermore, we have been consistent in saying that we believe IRV is constitutional in Maine.

Editor's note: This blog post, written by Jameson Quinn, originally published on the Center for Election Science's website and has been modified slightly for publication on IVN.

IVP Existence Banner

Latest articles

vote
It's Time to Let All Voters Vote in South Dakota's Taxpayer-Funded Primaries
Unfortunately, the upcoming 2024 South Dakota primary election promises more of the same for our state....
15 March, 2024
-
5 min read
TikTok
TikTok Has No Place in the Two-Party Duopoly
The US House of Representatives voted 352-65 Wednesday in favor of a bill (HR 7521) that would ban TikTok, a social media app used by approximately 170 million Americans, if Chinese tech company ByteDance refuses to divest from it....
13 March, 2024
-
7 min read
make every vote count
Report: 6-in-10 New Voters Register Unaffiliated in States that Suppress Independent Voters
Mounting research continues to show the real truth behind independent voter suppression in several states across the US....
12 March, 2024
-
3 min read
voter at polls
17% More Votes Count Under Ranked Choice Voting, Study Finds
A new study analyzing all single-winner ranked choice voting (RCV) elections since 2004 reveals a significant increase in meaningful votes and representation in elections under RCV....
12 March, 2024
-
2 min read
vote sticker
Ohio Bill Would Force Party Affiliation on Voters -- Whether They Want It or Not
Photo Credit:  Ohio has open partisan primaries that do not require party affiliation as a condition...
10 March, 2024
-
3 min read
texas
Two Key TX House Races Head to Expensive and Unnecessary Runoff Elections
Two US House primaries in Texas are headed for runoffs in May. Voters who are already exhausted with the political process will be asked to go to the polls in elections that historically draw in half of the March primary's turnout -- which was abysmally low in 2024....
07 March, 2024
-
4 min read