2016 Maine Question 5

Question 5: Citizen Initiative

An Act To Establish Ranked-Choice Voting
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 388,273 52.12% No 356,621 47.88% Valid votes 744,894 96.53% Invalid or blank votes 26,814 3.47% Total votes 771,708 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 1,058,444 72.91%
Results by counties
Source: Maine Secretary of State[1]

Elections in Maine
Federal offices U.S. President 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 Dem 1988 1992 1996 2000 Dem 2004 Dem 2008 Dem Rep 2012 Rep 2016 Dem Rep 2020 Dem Rep 2024 Dem Rep U.S. Senate 1820 1821 1823 1823 1827 1829 sp 1835 1835 sp 1837 sp 1839 1840 1843 sp 1846 1848 sp 1851 1854 sp 1857 1857 sp 1859 1861 sp 1863 1865 sp 1869 1870 sp 1875 1877 1877 sp 1880 1881 1881 sp 1883 1887 1889 1893 1895 1899 1901 1905 1907 1911 1912 sp 1913 1916 1916 sp 1918 1922 1924 1926 sp 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1942 1946 1948 1952 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 U.S. House of Representatives 1820–1821 1822 sp 2nd 1823 1824–1825 1826–1827 1826 sp 5th 1827 sp 1st 1828–1830 1830 1833 1834 1836 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1860 sp 5th 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1881 sp 2nd 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1897 sp 3rd 1898 1899 sp 1st 1899 sp 2nd 1900 1901 sp 4th 1902 1904 1906 1908 1908 sp 2nd 1908 sp 4th 1910 1912 1913 sp 3rd 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1940 sp 2nd 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1951 sp 3rd 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State government Gubernatorial elections 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 State Senate elections 2016 2018 2020 2022 State House elections 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures People's vetoes 2009 Question 1 2011 Question 1 2018 Question 1 (Jun) 2020 Question 1 Citizen initiated referendums 2012 Question 1 2014 Question 1 2015 Question 1 2016 Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 2017 Question 1 Question 2 2018 Question 1 (Nov) 2021 Question 1 2023 Question 1 Constitutional amendments 2021 Question 3 Legislatively referred referendums 2024 Question 5
City of Portland Mayoral elections 2011 2015 2019 2023
v t e

Maine Question 5, formally An Act to Establish Ranked-Choice Voting,^[2] is a citizen-initiated referendum question that qualified for the Maine November 8, 2016 statewide ballot. It was approved by a vote of 52% in favor, 48% opposed.^[3] It sought to change how most Maine elections will be conducted from plurality voting to instant-runoff voting (IRV, sometimes conflated with ranked-choice voting). It appeared on the ballot along with elections for President of the United States, Maine's two U.S. House seats, the legislature, five other ballot questions, and various local elections. The referendum was successful, making Maine the first state to use ranked choice voting for its federal elections.

An advisory opinion by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, issued on May 23, 2017, said the court would rule ranked-choice voting unconstitutional if it came before them, with respect to elections for state offices. This led the Maine Legislature to vote to delay its implementation until 2021 to allow time for a Constitutional amendment to be passed to permit it. Supporters gathered signatures to force a successful people's veto referendum on the matter in order to prevent the delay.

In the eleven Maine gubernatorial elections prior to 2016, only two candidates (incumbent governors Joe Brennan in 1982 and Angus King in 1998) won more than 50% of the vote.^[4] Typically gubernatorial elections have more than two significant candidates; the 2010 election had five candidates, with Paul LePage emerging as the winner with 37.6% of the vote.^[5] Some public opinion felt that his victory was due to opponents of LePage dividing their votes between Democratic candidate Libby Mitchell and independent candidate Eliot Cutler.^[6]

Proposals to enact ranked-choice voting have been introduced in the legislature as early as 2003, but were rejected.^[7][8] After a 2010 charter change, the city of Portland began electing its mayor using ranked-choice voting in 2011. There were new legislative proposals in 2011, though they were rejected as well.^[9] In 2014, upon releasing his supporters to vote for someone else in the 2014 election, Eliot Cutler encouraged his supporters to support ranked-choice voting.^[10] Led by former independent State Senator Dick Woodbury, Ranked Choice Voting collected more than the 61,123 valid signatures necessary to put a proposal to voters, collecting some 40,000 on Election Day 2014. The group collected 75,369 signatures and delivered them to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap by October 19, 2015. Dunlap ultimately certified 64,687 signatures by November 18, 2015, which put the proposal on the November 2016 ballot.^[11]

Per the Maine Constitution, the proposal went to the legislature in its 2016 session, but it did not act on the measure. On January 20, 2016, the Maine House of Representatives voted to place the proposal on the ballot without holding a public hearing, over the objections of Republicans, led by Rep. Heather Sirocki, expressing concern about the constitutionality of the proposal.^[12] Secretary of State Dunlap released the final wording of the question on June 23 as it was to appear on the ballot: "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?"^[13]

Some, including a deputy secretary of state and a state legislator, expressed concern about the constitutionality of the proposal. Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn said that the Maine Constitution requires that the governor and state legislators be elected with a plurality of votes and that a system based on ranked-choice voting could be challenged in court. (The state constitution was amended in 1847, 1875, and 1880 to choose winners by plurality for house, senate, and governor, respectively.^[14] Previously, an election with no majority winner would be decided by multiple election rounds or by the state legislature.)

Flynn also expressed concern that the proposal inserts the secretary of state into the process, while the Constitution states that votes shall be tabulated by municipal officials.^[12] Maine Attorney General Janet Mills issued an opinion at the request of Maine Senate President Michael Thibodeau stating that while the referendum must appear on the ballot, it will likely require amending the Maine Constitution to implement it, in order to satisfy the concerns given by the Secretary of State's office.

She added that the manner in which the proposal addresses how a tie in the voting should be addressed, drawing lots, directly conflicted with Article V of the Maine Constitution, which states that a tie in the vote for governor would be settled by the Maine Legislature meeting in joint session to choose a winner.^[15]

The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting Maine dismissed such concerns, noting that a majority vote is always a plurality vote and that such a system has survived legal challenges in several other states. Its website statement also linked to statements by several Maine law professors supporting its arguments.^[16]

After the question was approved by voters, the Maine Senate submitted questions to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which issued an advisory opinion on May 23, 2017. They unanimously ruled that ranked-choice voting was unconstitutional in state, but not federal, general elections. In response, the legislature passed a law on November 4, 2017, that amended the ranked-choice voting law to apply only to primary elections for Congress, governor, state senator, and state representative; and for general elections for Congress.^[17]

The law survived a legal challenge in federal court by U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin, who lost reelection by ranked choice voting to Jared Golden in 2018.^[18]

Supporters of the proposal, led by Ranked Choice Voting Maine, contend that it will lead to people voting for the candidate that they support and end strategic voting to vote merely for the candidate that they think will win, and that the ranked choice system will result in a candidate that has some level of support from a majority of voters. They further contend that ranked-choice voting will result in less negative campaigning, as candidates will need to appeal to a broad coalition of voters beyond their base of supporters to gain support as a second or third choice, if needed.

• Bill Diamond, Democratic state senator, former Secretary of State of Maine^[26]
• Paul LePage, Governor of Maine^[27]
• Heather Sirocki, state representative (R-Scarborough)^[28]
• Ellsworth American^[29]
• Bangor Daily News^[30]

On February 3, 2017, the Maine Senate voted 24–10 to ask the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for an advisory opinion as to the constitutionality of the approved proposal, after concerns about its constitutionality were expressed by Maine Attorney General Janet Mills.^[33]

On May 23, 2017, the Court issued its opinion that the law would be unconstitutional if it came before them, stating it would violate the provision of the Maine Constitution requiring elections to be decided by a plurality of the vote.^[34] State legislators had mixed reactions to the ruling, with Senate President Michael Thibodeau calling for the law to be repealed and Democratic State Sen. Catherine Breen stating she would propose a Constitutional amendment to permit the law.^[35] The legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on June 8 reported out to the floor five bills in reaction to the ruling, including one that would implement ranked-choice voting in 2018 for uses unaffected by the Court's opinion - that is, congressional elections and primaries.^[36] On October 23, 2017, the legislature voted to delay implementation of the RCV law for all races until 2021, to allow for time to pass a state constitutional amendment to allow it. This repeal affects even those races not affected by the Court's opinion, with the argument that Maine voters would be confused by a mix of RCV and non-RCV choices on a ballot. However, if such an amendment is not passed, the law would be repealed.^[37]

Supporters, angered by the delay, launched a people's veto signature-gathering effort to prevent it, pointing to its successful use in mixed-race ballots in Portland. The veto passed in June 2018 as Question 1, restoring ranked-choice voting for primary and federal elections.

• Ranked Choice Voting Maine Archived 2015-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, supporters of the initiative