A Maine Superior Court justice — who said Friday afternoon that “you are asking me to do something courts don’t like to do” — will likely make the next key decision about whether ranked-choice voting will be used in the June primary election.
Justice Michaela Murphy heard testimony Friday afternoon from attorneys for the Maine secretary of state and the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting on a matter that has been simmering between November 2016 when a referendum created ranked-choice voting in Maine and Wednesday of this week, when conflicts were discovered in different sections of Maine law.
At issue is language in one place that says primary elections should be decided by a plurality — in other words whoever receives the most votes — and another section that says elections should be decided by a majority, as ranked-choice voting is supposed to do.
Meanwhile, the elections division of the secretary of state’s office is scrambling to prepare for the June primaries by designing and printing ballots without knowing which method will be used.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Maine judge faces tight deadline to rule on latest ranked-choice voting glitch,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Christopher Cousins, please follow this link to the BDN online.
