Ranked-choice voting has been supported by two large efforts led by Maine citizens and is going to be used in the upcoming June primaries. Yet a minority opposes it and is determined to undermine this solution to a serious Maine problem any way they can.
What is the problem to be solved? It is the increasing ability of far-left and far-right minorities to hijack the governorship and other state offices using divide-and-conquer tactics made effective by our present election-by-plurality rule. Those who especially want ranked-choice voting are the 40 percent of Maine’s registered voters who are independents, turned off by the parties’ increased partisanship and unwillingness to compromise. The Maine preference is always for getting along and talking through our disagreements in order to arrive at effective solutions.
Ranked-choice voting discourages personal attacks and vituperation and can be a first step to reversing the nationwide trend of bitter, ineffective partisanship. Ranked-choice voting’s opponents keep calling it too complicated and unworkable and keep trying to turn it into yet another aspect of the partisan divide. It is not complicated – it is how sensible people make important decisions every day. It is not unworkable, unless its partisan opponents are able to succeed in their current attempts to litigate it to death.
I urge all responsible Mainers to become informed about ranked-choice voting and to be aware of the efforts to subvert it.
Charlie Graham
Camden
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