AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine could expand its system that allows voters to rank their candidates from first to last on the ballot.
The Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs committee has set public hearings Wednesday on two proposed constitutional amendments.
Republicans have proposed bills to repeal the voter-approved system, which Mainers endorsed in 2016 and 2018 state-wide votes.
It works like this: Voters rank candidates on the ballot, and a candidate garnering a majority of first-place votes is the winner.
If there’s no majority winner, then the last-place candidate is eliminated and votes are reallocated. The process is repeated until there’s a majority winner.
Maine used the ranked-choice voting system for the first time in U.S. House and Senate races in November. But Maine’s constitution prevents it from being used in governor general elections.
