Well, thanks very much to Eliot Cutler (“Third run for governor? ‘No, I’ve taken a vow,’ “ April 2), but he’s a few years too late. And in this case, “better late than never” doesn’t really apply.

His ill-advised actions in running for governor twice, in 2010 and again in 2014, caused a split in the progressive vote and resulted twice in the election of Paul LePage as governor with less than a majority of the votes cast.

The governor, as the only state officer chosen directly by the people, is supposed to receive half or more of the votes, which allows him or her to legitimately claim to represent most of the voters of Maine. When this is not the case, we can expect bad things to happen.

For the past 4½ years, and for the next 3½ years to come, bad things have and will continue to happen. Lacking majority support from the people, Gov. LePage has resorted to bullying, political maneuvering and extremely uncivil discourse to push his minority positions.

For this sad state of affairs, Mr. Cutler must bear a large share of the responsibility. Yet we, the people of Maine, are also to blame, so long as we tolerate a flawed election system. We need to demand change that requires a candidate to win half the votes in any election for governor.

Such a change could include a runoff election between the two highest vote-getters, or, even better, a ranked-choice voting system, which has been successfully used to elect, among others, the president of Ireland, members of the Australian parliament and the mayor of Portland.

Signatures are being sought for a petition to bring ranked-choice voting to a referendum in Maine.

Val C. Hart

Cumberland

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