ME-02: Poliquin in denial

[Virginiá]

RCV sucks...runoffs are better.

Even when turnout is lower? At least RCV captures a wide swath of people's opinions in the moment, as opposed to a runoff, which is basically a whole new campaign for a smaller audience. It's a waste of time and resources IMO.

[Virginiá]

I imagine that RCV will probably mean that Golden wins. I'm not sure we should write this off entirely in 2020. It's not like every Obama/Trump area went Republican this time. I think Trump wins it in a close race nationally, but probably by a significantly reduced margin.

With RCV now in use in federal races, does it apply to Maine's EVs as well?

Also, if EV-by-CD is just a law in Maine and not in the state constitution, the new Dem trifecta might want to change it back to statewide WTA?  But then Nebraska could and surely would retaliate.  Probably better to pass a law that only takes effect if Nebraska goes to statewide WTA first or if Nebraska's districts are gerrymandered in 2022?

Well apparently it was passed in 1969, and at first I wasn't sure if they just meant it went into effect after a previous amendment, but there is no EV amendment around that date:

http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib/lldl/constitutionalamendments/index.html

So yes I think a simple statute change might work. I don't think it's even worth it though. It's just one EV, and like you said, it could inspire Nebraska to change. Although I guess NE has been trying to change theirs for a while now, so it's not exactly a novel idea for them. I'd be more worried about it triggering another round of scheming from Republicans, like that old RNC-backed idea where they wanted to use their large state-level power to change a bunch of states Democrats can win at the presidential level to CD-based allocation (like Virginia and Pennsylvania). Obviously they have a lot less to work with now, but still.

[Virginiá]

Seriously, read the ME-02 hysteria here. Izengabe and Cuban Patriot are something else

https://rrhelections.com/index.php/2018/11/15/political-roundup-for-november-15-2018/

I bet Izengabe is just fine with voter suppression and probably even gerrymandering, passed by the minority party of the state which has locked in majority status by changing the election rules to favor them:

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Edit: Not to mention that said voter suppression laws enact policy that go against what the public actually seems to want for their elections:

[Virginiá]

Doesn't Maine require a super-majority to pass new maps? How would Republicans have done this, even with unified control?

[Virginiá]

It's really hard to see why people would have a problem with RCV. Sure, you can make a case why maybe it's not necessary in the 45 - 49.99% range, but there are definitely instances where it's preferable when you get even further down. Do we really want a bunch of candidate splitting the vote and letting some candidate slip by who the voters would probably not approve of in a head-to-head? This is even more true for primaries, and top-two states like CA should never have implemented it without RCV.

But hey, whatever floats their boats.

[Virginiá]

lol

https://twitter.com/SteveCollinsSJ/status/1067846802915897344

How desperate is this guy?

Also, you'd think that the last thing any Republican would want is to have to compete in a special election for the House, given how badly that has been going for them, even in districts far more conservative than ME-02.