PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A federal judge has declined to let the Maine Republican Party be exempted from ranked choice voting that’ll be used for the first time in a statewide primary election on June 12.
The Republican Party contended the imposition of ranked choice voting infringed upon the party’s First Amendment rights. But U.S. District Judge Jon Levy concluded that the GOP didn’t prove its claim and that the voting system imposes only a limited burden on the party.
Levy rejected the GOP’s request for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday.
The GOP had contended that the winner should simply be the primary candidate with the most votes.
But ranked-choice voting aims to ensure that the winner gets majority support through ballot rankings of candidates and multiple rounds of tallies, if necessary.
