Posted on 11/15/2018 11:53:17 AM PST by SMGFan
Maine Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s loss under the state’s new ranked-choice voting system on Thursday likely means the end of New England Republicans in the House.
It’s the first time in over 100 years an incumbent has lost Maine’s 2nd District. Poliquin is still pursuing his legal challenge to the ranked-choice voting system in federal court, but Democrat Jared Golden won more than 50 percent after state election officials tabulated the ranked-choice votes on Thursday afternoon.
Poliquin narrowly led the Democrat on the first count, but since neither candidate received 50 percent of the vote, the state’s new ranked-choice voting system kicked in. A federal judge on Thursday morning denied a Poliquin lawsuit to seek an injunction against the tabulation of those votes.
After the last-place finisher was eliminated, Golden defeated Poliquin 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent, according to state election officials who declared Golden the winner.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
It was 46% for the Republican incumbent, Bruce Poliquin, and 46% for the challenger, state representative (Maine House) Jared Golden on election night. Bruce Poliquin received 2,000 more votes on election night, but fell short of the 50.1% threshold necessary to avoid a second round.
The two minor candidates, Tiffany Bond and William Hoar together received 8% of the vote, combined.
A substantial number of Tiffany Bond’s voters picked democrat Jared Golden as their second choice, giving Jared Golden 50.3% in the second round.
“It is hard to argue that the choice of the majority is invalid...”
The choice of the majority on election night was the GOP incumbent Bruce Poliquin. Hence the legal fight launched by Congressman Poliquin.
The outcome of the litigation will determine whether Bruce Poliquin retains his seat in Congress or whether Jared Golden becomes the congressman-elect.
Nice to meet you. I’ll give a short synopsis of my time in the Maine GOP. Got involved in 2010, first time ever in politics. In a wave election year, I couldn’t believe how few people actually volunteered. The state GOP was a joke, no organization to speak of. Thank God the RGA was involved.
I wasted 5 years of my life working the ground game in central Maine. didn’t want to do it, but so few people were actually involved in the work necessary to win, that I felt I had to do it. I can honestly say I was the best ground game guy in the county, because for the most part I was the only one killing himself for the team. Anyway after 2015 I had enough. I was burnout by dealing with the internal politics of GOP committees. You’ve got 20% that are hard workers, the rest well the egos far exceed their talents. I despise these people.
2016 was a disaster in my county, Androscoggin, and this year was even worse. And it doesn’t have to be this way. A well organized county committee could flip a bunch of legislative seats in two years. But his requires hard work. In spite of my bitterness towards these losers, and that’s what they are on the executive committees, I’d be willing to organize a county ground game that would work for the next 104 weeks to secure victory. But I won’t work with people who say I can’t or I don’t have the time, or I don’t do doors. Give me 50 people working doors and the r’s pick up at least 6 house seats, and 2 senate seats in this county alone. Other county’s could adapt the plan to meet their objectives.
I believe in setting big time goals. There are about 80,000 voters in my county. Expect 80% turnout in 2020. The republican vote should be 38,000 plus overall. It can be with proper organization and hard work.
Poliquin should proceed with his lawsuit. “Instant runoff” (or “ranked choice”) permits those who voted for someone other than the first- or second-place finisher to vote two or more times, while those who voted for the top two only get a single vote. If Maine wants a run-off when no one gets 50%+1, then make it hold a runoff on another date so that everyone gets to vote twice.
Need to correct and elaborate on a couple of points made on this thread.
First, the Maine State Supreme Court did not rule it illegal for state races. They issued an opinion that they believed it was unconstitutional based on one word in our constitution that requires office holders to be elected by a plurality vs a majority. They cannot officially rule on its constitutionality until a case is brought before them and that cannot happen until someone who came in 1st on the first vote loses the final vote challenges the results. The legislature has determined that it cannot be used for state races until the constitution is changed.
Second, this state constitution issue did not affect the federal races thus the result. Again, there needs to be an aggrieved party to sue. That is why it is happening now. There is no federal law requiring majority or plurality, so Poliquin’s chance of success are slim.
What happened in this race is *beyond despicable*. Bruce Poliquin won this race by 2,000 votes, I think.
What the hell is a "ranked choice" election law?? A law that makes certain that NO Republicans ever win another major race in Maine again, apparently! This is insanity. >:-(
I cannot believe the insanity of this *new* "ranked-choice" law in Maine! It's downright un-American. It's more idiotic than the recount insanity I'm seeing in Florida! As long as that law is in place, NO Republican will ever win in Maine again.
I used to tout the system for use in GOP primaries.
But in practice I think we can see it’s some BS. Concocted by Maine democrats because too many left-leaning independents run in Maine. I hope the courts get rid of it but I’m not optimistic.
That’s a great argument. Equal protection violation.
Young Kim is behind now, as expected. Sorry, beautiful “woman of color” Republican, no soup for you.
We’re looking at 201. 202 if Mia Love wins, she’s behind by 1002 last I heard, the rat gained a little yesterday, she gained the day before. Utah county has votes left and some analysts are expecting Love to win.
I don't see a whole lot of difference.
...although I have concerns about this as possibly not being Constitutional.
How?
The Ethan Strimmling Race Memorial Law
For the benefit of those that didn’t see it, this is what I wrote upthread:
Poliquin should proceed with his lawsuit. “Instant runoff” (or “ranked choice”) permits those who voted for someone other than the first- or second-place finisher to vote two or more times, while those who voted for the top two only get a single vote. If Maine wants a run-off when no one gets 50%+1, then make it hold a runoff on another date so that everyone gets to vote twice.
Wrong word. The choice of the “majority” on election night was someone other than the republican, hence he had a minority of the vote.
He was the plurality choice, not the majority choice.
Now, many elections accept that. But some places have decided that they want a candidate who is acceptable to a majority. And the purpose of instant run-off is to find out who the voters would choose if they didn’t have their own candidate to vote for.
We tend to like month-later elections, because it eliminates the ploy of running other candidates just to entice non-voters to come to the polls, where we then hope they will pick our candidates as their second choice.
But there is no great principle that, in a multi-candidate race, the person who manages to get more votes than everybody else has to be the winner (note that legally, in Maine, it MIGHT be that the constitution requires it, but that isn’t a principle, just law).
A lot of conventions run a similar plan, you have multiple nominees, but after each round of voting you eliminate the lowest vote-getter and vote again, until someone gets a majority.
Note that both National committees do that for their presidential elections, if no presidential candidate shows up with a majority of pledged votes, they keep voting until someone gets that majority.
The problem in Maine is that the republicans didn’t put any other candidates on the ballot, while the democrats had 2 other candidates that would pull people on their side.
If the republicans had recruited a good conservative libertarian as a second candidate, they probably would have won this race.
I see it as an unfair application of election laws. If such a system is permitted in Maine, where a candidate “must” receive 50%+1 for a federal race, but doesn’t happen in another state, I see this as an unequal and unique situation. Either all should have it, or none. However, I do not support this at all. There should be a separate runoff election, not an “instant” one.
Also, there is the issue that someone is technically casting MORE than one vote for one single office. In fact, this gives disproportionate power to 3rd party voters. You know your candidate isn’t going to win, so you can cast a 2nd ranked vote, presumably for a D or R. What if you wish your 2nd (or 3rd) ranked votes to go to the SAME candidate, so you’re casting two or three votes for the same person, which you aren’t permitted to do ? The whole thing is ridiculous and rife for fraud.
<<Now the Democrats face the problem. Their Leftist clown posse at the top actually think they won on their radical Leftist poltical agenda not the lying and the fraud.
No they don’t. Look what happened with Bernie. After Hillary stole the nomination with the super delegate fiasco, the Berniebots went ahead and voted for her regardless of having been defrauded. (with the exception of a vocal minority that started the antifa criminality).
The wealthy Dem business interests and the activists that won on the Dem ticket de-facto support each other to ensure they maintain control. It’s a parasitic symbiotic relationship, as I recall my biology teacher repeating.
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