Posted on 11/15/2016 12:59:30 AM PST by Impy
Maine residents have approved a ballot question that will allow voters to rank their choice of candidates.
Under the election overhaul, ballots are counted at the state level in multiple rounds. Last-place candidates are eliminated until a candidate wins by a majority.
The voting style will apply to races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House.
Proponents of ranked-choice voting say it will prevent a governor from being elected with less than 50 percent of the votes. That was the scenario when Gov. Paul LePage was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Ranked choice voting is sometimes also called “instant runoff.”
In future races, probably not good, lots of Greens and other lib independents run in Maine.
Sounds like President is not included in this.
It passed 52-48.
They legalized weed by a scant margin.
Hiked the state income tax for the "rich" by a scant margin.
Hiked the minimum wage.
Gun control was defeated, least!
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/maine
If anyone has a Maine ping list
Trump won CD-2, nearly took the state at large. Polquin won.
But lost in that, there were some lame ballot measures passed. But gun control was defeated! Bloomberg.
Some interesting ballot initiatives in other states
PA raised the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75....hmmm.
Nebraska reinstated the death penalty. For some season the leg abolished it and overrode the Governor’s veto. The people stepped in and fixed it. I don’t like the NE legislature’s “non-partisan” election system, catnip for RINOS and stealth democrats.
it also helps 3rd party candidates. No longer throwing vote away .... somehow I don’t like it.
“”Trump won CD-2, nearly took the state at large””
Trump would have won the whole state if it was
not for the ballot box stuffing down in the
southern half of the state (Augusta an South)
Commonly known as new Massholeville
I am very concerned about Ranked-Choice voting. The people really pushing hard for the proposal were the SEIU and lots of Bernie Sanders hard-core leftists. I have a feeling that this system of voting will not be good for Republicans in general and conservatives in particular.
Unless a third party is very strong, their votes end up being diluted into the major parties.
This is how Australians vote for their Parliament.
Imagine if this is had been the rule for the presedential race back when the Clintons “perotted” his way to the presidency with 41% of the vote. I’m betting there would have been no Clinton presidency as more then likely 59% of the voters would have put him in last place.
Otherwise called a popularity contest. Qualified or knowledgeable candidates need not apply - open only to the cool, the rich, the good looking, the trend setters. Basically, most Hollywood stars would be the likely candidate. An electorate by and for the LIV voter.
Plus: First steps in eliminating the electoral college and any possibility good governance, but more toward legislatively requiring ordinary citizens to purchase mandated goods and services.
I think this is what Lani Guinier was pushing at the beginning of the Clinton Administration...until Rush led a drive to push her out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lani_Guinier
Hopefully the courts put a quick end to it.
Every stupid idea that comes down the pike. That will frig us up for a couple of election cycles, just like Portland, and then it will get repealed.
They accuse legislators of not studying the bills before voting on them, and to a certain degree, that's probably true.
But Maine voters will pass almost any bond issue, and I guarantee you NOT ONE VOTER has ever read the bill (ballot initiative) they are voting on...just the one sentence summary...Maybe.
Unless enough people list a #1 choice and no #2 choice, in which case you won’t get a majority unless you literally don’t count those ballots and only give percentages from those remaining.
It guarantees the plurality candidates will probably lose. Denying voters a choice...Dumb idea.
Hiked the state income tax for the "rich" by a scant margin.
Like we have any "rich". The "rich" don't have to work. This is for people earning over $200,000 (small business owners) We don't even have a lot of employees earning that much, unless of course, they work for the government...Bad idea.
Hiked the minimum wage.
Which in a nutshell is a job killer.
The RATs seem to think people should be able to support a family on minimum wage, when it is a "starting wage" for unskilled labor (summer jobs for teenagers) Most Maine employers already pay workers a wage above the current minimum, just to retain their good help.
This only means fewer jobs for highschool kids, and the introduction of the $20 hamburger.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Sounds a lot like musical chairs.
Maine needs a citizen initiative to ban citizen initiatives.
I've done that...but not very far.
(it ran out of gas, and I'm too old for that stuff)
In Australia I believe they force you to rank them ALL, and if you don’t it’s an invalid vote. The parties hand out leaflets telling you their rank preference for the other parties.
But in other places that use it, that’s just how it works, no choice left on your ballot? Then it’s dropped. The numbers will be avialible so you’ll know how many refused to pick but the only #s that matter are those between the final 2, someone will have a majority of what’s left.
The UK voted down switching to this system in 2011. They called it “alternate vote”, Maine is calling it “Ranked Choice. “Instant-runoff” is the most technically correct term.
I’m not against it on principle, I’ve even floated the idea for GOP primaries, but in Maine general elections I think it’s gonna hurt Republicans, libs can freely vote Green and stuff knowing their vote can be redistributed to the rat when the Green comes in third.
And it also will be applied to primaries, while in some states you might want that, a RINO can win a primary with 35% against 2 conservatives, in Maine it’s more likely to be the other way around, probably.
It’s for Gov, Senate, US House, and State Leg, everything but President and local.
Another thing, it will probably take forever to count and God help you if you need to recount something, recount every “round” of voting.
We all cheer when there’s a good result but yeah I’m getting to be not too keen on popular initiatives/referendums, potential for harm is greater than good. Good stuff that passes in Cali (or should I say used to get passed) used to get end arounded by the leg or thrown out by the courts but any disaster that passes is law forever.
Direct democracy. In an ideal world, sounds good, this is not an ideal world.
I hope that the courts invalidate the instant run-off, at least for U.S. House and U.S. Senate elections, based on the fact that (i) the U.S. Constitution says that the people of the states shall elect U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators and that going by second- and third- and fourth-choices is not “electing” and (ii) the time, place and manner of elections must be set by state legislatures, and voters by referendum are not “legislatures.” At the very least I would like to see its implementation postponed until after the 2018 elections, since conservative Republican Gov. Paul LePage almost certainly will be running against liberal “Independent” Sen. Angus King and a Democrat candidate (and maybe a Green as well).
But I don’t know if the courts will step in here, particularly given that just a year or two ago SCOTUS ruled, in a 5-4 case, that when the Constitution says “the state legislature” it means “the state legislature, or the voters in a referendum, or whatever floats your boat.” That was yet another instance of Justice Kennedy screwing us over (and please note that each of Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts were on the right side in that vote).
Regarding Measure 2, which raises the state income tax by 3% on those persons in Maine who earn over $200,000 per year (and supposedly gives the money to schools)....
Gov. Paul LePage recently said on the radio show Maine in the morning that doctors will be discouraged from moving to Maine because of this measure.
But in reality, to the RATs.
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