“Maine’s Constitution calls for candidates to be selected by plurality, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, even if the vote total is less than a majority.”
That sentence is at the heart of this Portland Press-Herald story, which details how that state’s supreme court has ruled ranked-choice voting – approved by ballot initiative in November – is unconstitutional.
The court opinion itself doesn’t negate ranked-choice voting, which was supported by 52 percent of Mainers who cast ballots last fall. The justices instead spelled out the Legislature’s options, noting that lawmakers can now vote to repeal the measure or to initiate the process that leads to a constitutional amendment to allow for ranked-choice voting.
The article notes, however, that amending the constitution is unlikely, and since Gov. LePage hates ranked-choice voting, the project is almost certainly dead.
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