AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine’s highest court has cleared the way for a system to be used in which voters are allowed to rank candidates in the June primary elections.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday declined to weigh into constitutional claims by the Maine Senate, which sought to derail ranked-choice voting. Justices said voters have demanded Maine moved ahead on ranked-choice voting despite a conflicting statute in state law.
Justices had been racing the clock. Election officials said the June 12 primary ballots need to be sent to the printer this month.
The voting system would allow Mainers to rank candidates on the ballot in order of preference. A candidate with a majority of votes wins. If there’s no majority, then the last-place candidate’s votes are reallocated and the votes are tabulated again.
