ME-02: Poliquin in denial

[Xing]

To quote what many of us heard two years ago: "You lost, Bruce, get over it."

[Tintrlvr]

https://twitter.com/AcquistoA/status/1063124532238712837

So where can he go from here? Didn't he just lose his court case and wasn't it declared constitutional for House races?

All he lost was an injunction to prevent them from running the ranked choice count. He can still in theory continue to challenge the ranked choice count as unconstitutional. However, given that he lost the injunction (and in front of a judge appointed by Trump and previously appointed to the Maine judiciary by LePage, of all people), he's highly unlikely to win the case in district court. He could *maybe* win on appeal but would probably have to hope the case goes to the Supreme Court. By that point, there's no way that any judge declares Poliquin the actual winner of the election because we'd be talking about a decision coming down probably more than a year from now. At most, they would declare RCV (as implemented by initiative) unconstitutional going forward, i.e., the 2020 election would have to be on FPTP, or they *might* declare the seat vacant and require a special election on FPTP. But the Democrats now have a trifecta in Maine, and I bet one of their first acts will be to enshrine RCV in the state constitution, and there's no real question of whether the state legislature can implement RCV for federal (or state) elections, so the question will probably be moot at that point.

In short, Poliquin's court case could, theoretically, be drawn out for a year or two, but it's ultimately pointless.

[Libertarian in Name Only]

https://twitter.com/AcquistoA/status/1063124532238712837

So where can he go from here? Didn't he just lose his court case and wasn't it declared constitutional for House races?

All he lost was an injunction to prevent them from running the ranked choice count. He can still in theory continue to challenge the ranked choice count as unconstitutional. However, given that he lost the injunction (and in front of a judge appointed by Trump and previously appointed to the Maine judiciary by LePage, of all people), he's highly unlikely to win the case in district court. He could *maybe* win on appeal but would probably have to hope the case goes to the Supreme Court. By that point, there's no way that any judge declares Poliquin the actual winner of the election because we'd be talking about a decision coming down probably more than a year from now. At most, they would declare RCV (as implemented by initiative) unconstitutional going forward, i.e., the 2020 election would have to be on FPTP, or they *might* declare the seat vacant and require a special election on FPTP. But the Democrats now have a trifecta in Maine, and I bet one of their first acts will be to enshrine RCV in the state constitution, and there's no real question of whether the state legislature can implement RCV for federal (or state) elections, so the question will probably be moot at that point.

In short, Poliquin's court case could, theoretically, be drawn out for a year or two, but it's ultimately pointless.

Thanks. Sounds like it's just a last resort option to try to kill RCV.

[J. J.]

Roberts' dissent was only based on redistricting.

The "one person one vote" argument is not just hilariously flawed, there's a ton of state legislatures, city councils and school boards that use multi member districts and allow for more than one vote. I cast two votes for Minneapolis school board last week. Poliquin's argument there is fundamentally absurd.

Multi-member districts are bit different.  In most places you can only cast one vote for one individual.  In IRV, there is a ranking,so you are actually voting for more than one individual.

That said, I'd need to hear a strong argument for IRV to be unconstitutional before I'd go that way.  It its face, it seems constitutional.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

So, NYT and CNN both have declared Jared Golden the winner without updating the results. That's strange...

[Oryxslayer]

Roberts' dissent was only based on redistricting.

The "one person one vote" argument is not just hilariously flawed, there's a ton of state legislatures, city councils and school boards that use multi member districts and allow for more than one vote. I cast two votes for Minneapolis school board last week. Poliquin's argument there is fundamentally absurd.

Multi-member districts are bit different.  In most places you can only cast one vote for one individual.  In IRV, there is a ranking,so you are actually voting for more than one individual.

That said, I'd need to hear a strong argument for IRV to be unconstitutional before I'd go that way.  It its face, it seems constitutional.

Really now, I know Maryland and Arizona have been using MMD state house districts for a while now where you get x votes, where x is equal to the number of candidates who rep the seat. I believe there are other states that do it this way as well.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Congratulations to Jared Golden!

[Person Man]

Congratulations to Jared Golden!

[ProudModerate2]

Congressman-elect for Maine's 2nd congressional district ...
Jared Golden.

PS: It's Maine and it's Jared Golden .... we needed some delicious, Pepperridge Farm "Gold""fish" crackers to help in the celebration.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

So, the whole U.S. House delegation from New England is now fully blue again? Good to know!

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

By the way, is Jared Golden going to be the first tattooed congressman ever?

[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:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

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

[Nyvin]

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/

Yeah, you'd think Maine has become a totalitarian dictatorship after reading RRH today...

[Gass3268]

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:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

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

You can always tell when Izengabe is in charge of RHH's twitter feed, becausee the craziness goes from like 3 to 11.

[ON Progressive]

Yeah, the funny thing is Izengabe was the most anti-Trump moderator during the 2016 election and now he’s gone (further) off the cliff. The other moderators are all pretty good and sane though

I remember when Izengabe used racial dog whistles to attack Ammar Campa-Najjar using his grandfather as an excuse.

[ag]

So, the whole U.S. House delegation from New England is now fully blue again? Good to know!

And if you include the Senate, it is the new low for the Republicans: Collins is it now.

[Dr. Arch]

Flawless Beautiful Jared

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Congratulations to Golden!! Creepy Poliquin go bye bye!

[IceSpear]

https://twitter.com/AcquistoA/status/1063124532238712837

So I assume he also thought Hillary Clinton should be president then.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Wait, Poliquin's argument is seriously that anything other than FPTP is unconstitutional as such?! lmao what a sad little man.

[Strudelcutie4427]

Ranked Choice is a fouking abomination. It needs to go

[Doimper]

Ranked Choice is a fouking abomination. It needs to go

"Am I out of touch? No, it's the system that's wrong."

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Ranked Choice is a fouking abomination. It needs to go

What's wrong with it? It gives power to third parties and allows people to state their preferences better.

[IceSpear]

Ranked Choice is a fouking abomination. It needs to go

Good to hear you think a FPTP popular vote system is the way to go. We'll trade you Rep. Poliquin for President Clinton.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, the whole U.S. House delegation from New England is now fully blue again? Good to know!

And if you include the Senate, it is the new low for the Republicans: Collins is it now.

Collins is either going to retire, or get utterly crushed in 2020. Say hello to Senator Chellie Pingree.