https://mainebeacon.com/no-ranked-choice-voting-wont-stop-lepage/“With RCV, LePage will have a very tough time,” tweeted one commenter. “Ranked Choice voting plus Mills’ high approval will make her a tough opponent to beat,” wrote another.
Unfortunately, RCV doesn’t apply in general elections for governor.
In May, 2017, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a unanimous opinion that a requirement in the state’s constitution that winners in gubernatorial and legislative general elections receive a “plurality” of the vote prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting in those races.
It would take a constitutional amendment approved by a two-thirds margin in both legislative chambers and then passed in a statewide referendum to change this quirk of Maine election law. Given the current partisan divide over ranked-choice voting, deepened by former Representative Bruce Poliquin’s loss in 2018, this doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.
