Maine voters have signed two sets of petitions to put a ranked-choice voting measure on the ballot, and they voted once (in 2016) to implement ranked-choice voting.
Now the Maine Republican Party, apparently scared about giving the people of Maine more choice, is making another last-ditch effort to halt ranked-choice voting. The will of the people means nothing to these individuals, who like the current system since they play it to their benefit. They forget that Republicans supported ranked-choice voting when they were out of power. Disgusting – hopefully, the federal court will throw out their lawsuit.
In the meantime, what are the people to do? The previous vote in 2016 and the petitions before and after that will all be for naught if those same voters don’t vote in the June 12 primary and vote “yes” on statewide Question 1. A “yes” vote on that poorly worded question will preserve the use of ranked-choice voting in future elections for races that have no conflict with the Maine Constitution.
My worry is that independents – voters with no party affiliation – will be tempted to skip the primary since they will not be voting to determine either the Democratic or Republican candidate for governor (or state representative in House District 75 or U.S. representative in the 2nd Congressional District).
Even if they’re not enrolled in a party, voters need to go to the polls to vote “yes” on statewide Question 1. If you are not registered to vote, the state of Maine has same-day voter registration (see bit.ly/2IgkSSN for more information on registration).
If voters with no party affiliation would like to experience ranked-choice voting and help choose either the Democratic or Republican candidate for governor in the general election, they can choose to enroll in a party on June 12, the day of the primary.
Get out there and support ranked-choice voting!
Bill Dunn
Yarmouth
CLARIFICATION: This letter was updated at 1:20 p.m. on May 16 to reflect the correct deadline for affiliating one’s voter registration with a particular political party.
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