Editor’s note: This is the final half of last week’s story by Staff Writer Anthony Brino.
Michael Waugh’s sophomore social studies class at Presque Isle High School recently hosted a public forum with seven candidates for the state legislature in Aroostook County. Students organized the forum to talk about this year’s ballot initiatives with candidates Trey Stewart, Rosemary Monahan, A.J. Edgecomb, Bob Saucier, Dustin White, Michael Carpenter and Troy Jackson.
Question 5
Do you want to allow voters to rank their choices of candidates in elections for U.S. Senate, Congress, Governor, State Senate, and State Representative, and to have ballots counted at the state level in multiple rounds in which last-place candidates are eliminated until a candidate wins by majority?
Trey Stewart
“We all have to recognize that our system is facing some serious issues right now. Money in politics is becoming more and more common. In fact, it’s unprecedented in this race for this Congressional District.”
“I think if you can get back to a model where the community is a bedrock of our society … the impact that money can play won’t make as much of a difference.”
“The best way to do that is by things like this: Engaging with the community, figure out the issues for yourself and where you stand on the issues.”
Rosemary Monahan
“I think we need to consider it very carefully. How many times have we all heard that people are upset about elections where a majority of the voters did not elect the candidate that won. In fact, in our gubernatorial race it’s been years since a majority of Mainers elected a governor and I think Governor King was the last elected by a majority.”
“I think passage of this measure may possibly go a long way on cutting back on some of the extremist positions in parts of politics … It’s going to encourage better civil discourse. ”
Anthony Edgecomb
“It’s a tough one because it’s unconstitutional. It disenfranchises our voters. And it’s even been deemed unconstitutional by our attorney general Janet Mills.”
“We just passed a ballot initiative that said it would put less big money into our campaign expenses, when in reality anybody running clean elections is now allowed to triple the money they spend, which means more fliers, more ads against each other. I ran a campaign with the initial funds two years ago and was successful and had everything I ever needed to hit every door in my district.”
Bob Saucier
“This question is probably the one that is going to give most voters the most heartburn as to how they vote because they don’t understand it … As Rosemary said, voters are a little disgruntled about about having a candidate win with less than the majority. We have candidates who run as an independent or unenrolled and basically it takes votes away from one or the other of the two political parties. I am a big supporter of ranked choice voting and I think it will take a lot of issues out of our voting process.”
Dustin White
“I have concerns about its constitutionality and I believe it disenfranchises voters because if you vote for a candidate and they get the least amount of the votes, they throw away your vote technically and go to your second choice … I believe that’s going to make some people question who they vote for.”
Michael Carpenter
“I don’t support ranked choice voting for one simple reason. We will have a devil of a time in 20 days to drag out half of the people who are eligible to vote, and if we do anything to make that more complicated we will have fewer people vote. Number 2, I am not going to trust a computer to tabulate second and third choices.”
“The two things that have to be done in our electoral politics are getting money out of the politics … We’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars and don’t kid yourselves that that doesn’t buy influence. Number two, thank you for this forum. This is the only opportunity in this entire election cycle for anybody in Aroostook County to see the candidates. This drives me crazy. I can’t get the local civic organizations, the local social clubs, to have the candidates in, partly because they’re worried they’ll get into a fight; that doesn’t happen in Aroostook County.”
Troy Jackson
“I think it’s important to be transparent and let people know how you feel about issues … I’ve heard a lot of people talk about the fact that they like a candidate, but they’re independent or unenrolled and they don’t think they can win so they won’t vote for them. I think that’s unfortunate. If people voted for who they liked, I think we might have some changes in the system. And even though I’m a Democrat, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have unenrolled, Green Party candidates or any candidates. We shouldn’t have to depend on two major political parties in the United States.”
“I think ranked choice voting could change that and that’s why personally, as an ordinary guy from Allagash, I’m going to support it. What the people in this state decide is completely up to them.”
