Maine Election Official, Lawmakers Question Legality Of Ranked-choice Voting Proposal

AUGUSTA –– A ballot question that would swap Maine’s traditional election system for one in which seats in Congress and the State House are selected by ranked-choice voting could violate the Maine Constitution, according to a top state election official. Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn, the longtime head of the elections office, said the issue involves whether Maine’s governor and seats in the Legislature can be chosen by a majority of voters rather than a plurality, as the constitution provides.