Good morning from Augusta, where the secretary of state’s office has released what ranked-choice voting ballots for the June primaries will look like.
Designing ballots is usually a routine exercise that goes unnoticed by the general public, but the implementation of the new voting system this year — and widespread concerns that voters will be confused when they enter the ballot booth — make this a milestone event.
The Democratic ballot is above. Also available for your perusal are ranked-choice ballots for the Republican gubernatorial primary, 2nd Congressional District U.S. House race and a Republican House primary.
The ballot includes a few directions about how to use it. It informs voters to fill in the oval for their first choice candidate under the “1st Choice” column, and to “continue until you have ranked as many or as few candidates as you like.” Then comes the crucial step to ensuring your ballot is valid: “Fill in no more than one oval for each candidate or column.” There is also room for one write-in.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Here’s a look at Maine’s first ranked-choice voting state ballots,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Christopher Cousins, please follow this link to the BDN online.
