AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine began to weigh whether to expand its new voting system and allow voters to rank gubernatorial candidates from first to last on November ballots. 

The Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee held hearings Wednesday on proposed constitutional amendments. 

Maine voters approved the ranked voting system in 2016, which survived a second statewide vote in 2018 and former Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s failed attempt in federal court to have the system declared unconstitutional in federal races. 

It works like this: Voters rank candidates on the ballot, and a candidate garnering a majority of first-place votes is the winner. Otherwise, last-place candidates are eliminated and votes are reallocated until there’s a majority winner. 

Maine made history last year when it used the ranked-choice voting system for the first times in June gubernatorial and legislative primary races and November federal races. 

Grassroots supporters bolstered by out-of-state funding have praised the system as ensuring candidates win with buy-in from a majority of voters. Such groups have often pointed to the 2010 election of former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who like past governors won with less than a majority of voters. 

But Maine’s constitution prevents ranked voting from being used in general elections for governor and Legislature in November. 

League of Women Voters of Maine Executive Director Anna Kellar said voters should get the chance to weigh in on expanding ranked voting. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has said she’d back such a constitutional amendment, but Democrats lack the two-thirds votes in both chambers needed for it to go to voters. 

“Passing any one of these bills takes a step toward achieving what voters indicated they wanted three years ago,” Kellar said. “Giving voters the chance to make this constitutional amendment is simply the right and reasonable thing to do.” 

Several Republican lawmakers have proposed repealing or rolling back the law, which critics said shouldn’t apply to Mainers in the eight out of 16 counties that voted against the original 2016 referendum. 

“There is a considerable amount of resentment among (Congressional District 2) Mainers that their opinions and values are being superseded by those of the more urban (Congressional District 1), and that is simply not fair,” said Republican Rep. Dick Bradstreet in written testimony. 

Manchester resident John Cote told lawmakers that even though ranked-choice voting has become a partisan issue, he supports it because it promotes fair elections and third-party candidates. 

There could come a time when Mainers will face leading candidates who are Republican and libertarian, Cote said. 

“I understand one party might feel disenchanted in this first cycle of it,” he said. 

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