Thank you, Lewiston!

Thank you for showing us the accurate, honest and time-tested method of electing a candidate by a majority of the voters. It is really quite simple.

Regardless of the number of candidates, if no one gets at least 50 percent plus one, a runoff is in order. The top two candidates have a month to continue to persuade the voters that they are “the one.” You then vote again, and one is elected by a 50 percent-plus margin.

When we were governing in primarily a two-party system, a majority vote of more than 50 percent was the norm. Today, with multiple party candidates and unaffiliated candidates, gaining a 50 percent-plus-one majority is unrealistic at best.

If the objective is a candidate elected by more than 50 percent of the voters, a runoff election is the clearest and fairest way to achieve that objective.

The most recent changes to Maine’s campaign finance laws have ensured that multiple candidates for elected office will become more and more common and prolific. Those who championed the recent spending increase in taxpayer-funded campaigns are now trying to sell us on ranked-choice voting as more cost effective and fairer to voters.

Ranked-choice voting is a system where we will elect a candidate who was NOT the first choice of more than half the voters. But when you add in the second, third and fourth choice, eventually someone gets to over 50 percent.

Getting people to vote is a great enough challenge without asking them to rank three, six or 17 candidates. Give us the top two vote-getters, let them make their case, and then we will decide which one we prefer.

Brian Bicknell

Yarmouth