Honors Young Farmer, staff
HOULTON — The Houlton Rotary Club was educated about ranked choice voting this past Monday, July 18. Rotarian Torrey Sylvester introduced his guests Griffin Johnson, Kyle Bailey and John Nutter. Johnson grew up in the area, son of Tanya Pasquarelli and Randy Johnson.
From 1974 to 2014, nine out of 11 governors of Maine have not been elected by a majority of the voters. These nine governors would be called “Spoiler Candidates.” They have not received a majority of the votes cast and in their governorship only cater to a small number of voters and special interest groups.
In 1990, the Rand Choice Voting, process also known as RCV, was introduced and has progressed to being put on the ballot this November as question number 5. Voters would be able to choose their top three choices in order of preference: first, second and third. The candidate with the most number of choices wins.
The cost to place this in the Maine election process would be close to $550,000. RCV is being used in other states and studies indicate that candidates treat each other more civilly since they each have a good chance of winning. Divisive politics are reduced as more inclusive and informative campaigns exist. Voters in RCV states report more satisfaction with their voting and with the whole process.
Griffin encouraged Rotarians to vote “yes” on question 5 this November.