AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine’s top election official has made an abrupt about-face on ranked-choice voting, saying the system won’t be used in the June primaries after all.
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap was set to brief lawmakers on the roll-out on Thursday. Instead, he announced there’ll be no ranked-choice voting, saying an analyst found a “conflict” in the law.
Ranked-choice voting supporters vowed to go to court to seek an injunction.
The system lets voters rank candidates from first to last. A candidate who wins a majority of first-place votes is declared the winner. There are additional tallies if no one wins an outright majority.
Mainers approved the new voting concept in November 2016. Petitions were collected to for a second statewide vote on June 12 that aims to thwart a legislative delay.
