Posted on 11/27/2018 8:34:15 AM PST by SMGFan
The Maine Republican would be required to personally foot the bill
Ranked-choice voting has a dedicated foe in defeated Rep. Bruce Poliquin.
The Maine Republican called for a hand recount of ballots cast in the race for the 2nd District — the first election in the nation to use ranked-choice voting to fill a congressional seat — decrying the software used to allocate voters’ preferences as a “black-box voting system.”
“No one is able to review the algorithm used by a computer to determine elections,” Poliquin campaign spokesman Brendan Conley said in a statement Monday night. “This artificial intelligence is not transparent.” After Election Day, Poliquin led member-elect Jared Golden by less than one percentage point on the first count. But when neither candidate received a 50 percent share of the vote, the state’s ranked-choice voting system kicked in.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
No.
How is it unconstitutional? How is it really any different than a run-off election where no candidate gets an absolute majority?
Maybe, but you could look as your second choice is a vote for the least objectionable candidate if your guy doesn't win. :^)
This is what the State of Maine says, along with a cute YouTube cartoon video -
I wonder if Bruce knows how many CD2 Trumpster Patriots, who would have stayed home, went and voted for him because of what he did to help Pastor Bob?
This came before a judge before....I don’t recall if it was a state judge or federal judge.
Maine’s Constitution states that a candidate must receive a plurality of the votes. Therefore, Maine’s governor’s race was not subjected to rank choice voting. The dem candidate for governor received more than 50.1% anyway. Rank choice voting WAS in effect last June, and chose the dem candidate for governor, Attorney General Janet Mills.
There were six or more candidates running in the dem primary.
Throughout Maine’s history, MANY candidates were elected with less than 50.1% of the vote, for state AND federal offices.
A judge claimed that the U.S. Constitution does not mention anything about a plurality, so he ruled that rank choice voting is OK for federal offices.
Congressman Bruce Poliquin is suing based on this judge’s ruling about the federal Constitution. I think that’s why he is filing a federal lawsuit.
Absolute Majority is a scam.
Pluraliy is the ONLY valid vote.
All other voting is a lie about a voter’s intentions. It would require multiple re-elections to determine proper intent. But multiple re-elections are unreliable over time, destroying the initial choice.
This does not even cover any vote against a person’s liberty or property being a scam.
Democrats run election SCAMS.
“Jeez louise, why hasn’t anyone tested this in court?!”
I agree with you that “ranked choice” (which they used to call “instant runoff”) violates the U.S. Constitution by giving certain voters more than one vote. If Maine wants to make sure that its congressmen receive 50%+1 of the vote, then the state should have a runoff between the top-two finishers *at a later date* and with *every registered voter being allowed to vote*.
Congressman Poliquin was on a Boston radio show a little while ago, as well as the local news here in Maine.
He said that people told him they were confused by the ballot, and filled in all four ovals....1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice and 4th choice....for GOP incumbent Bruce Poliquin, because that’s who they, the voter, wanted.
Those ballots were not counted as a result of the same candidate being chosen in each category, and that person was disenfranchised as a result. That’s one of the main reasons the congressman wants a hand recount, which he is paying for.
Also, the computer algorithms that were used in the machine count for the second round of voting....which claimed the democrat challenger, Jared Golden, was the winner in the second round of computer voting... are secret. No one seems to know what those algorithms are, and the congressman and his attorneys want to see those computer algorithms. This second round of voting took over a week.
GOP incumbent Bruce Poliquin has a court date in federal court in Bangor, Maine on December 5th. From there it may go to a higher federal court in Boston and then, according to the congressman, the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
The congressman said the principle of “One man (or woman), one vote” has been tossed out, because some people actually got to vote for two candidates (one in the first round, one in the second round). It’s a mess.
Even if Bruce Poliquin, the GOP incumbent wins in court, there’s also the possibility that in January, the dem controlled House may refuse to seat him. What happens then, I have no idea.
It WAS tested in court, and rank choice voting was found to violate the Maine Constitutional....which mentions a plurality of votes...but not the U.S. Constitution, which does not mention a plurality, according to the judge who heard the case earlier in the year.
Therefore, rank choice was not used for governor, or any of the races for the Maine House or the Maine Senate, but was used in the U.S. Senate race and the two U.S. House races.
In the U.S. Senate race, with Angus King running for re-election....he received more than 50.1% of the vote and the 1st congressional district race....with Shelley Pingree running for re-election....she also received more than 50.1% of the vote so rank choice voting did not kick in.
Federal courts are prohibited from giving advisory opinions, and there’s a very strict “case or controversy” requirement. I assume that the Maine constitution permits challenges to election laws before they actually affect anyone, but such challenge in federal court under the U.S. Constitution needed to wait for someone to have standing to sue, which is why Poliquin had to wait until now.
Thanks for the further information. From what I have seen, the methodology for the ranked aspect is fairly straightforward — IF the votes are tallied properly.
If ballots were rejected where the voter picked the same candidate for more than 1 “choice”, a hand recount is definitely in order, and there is a strong argument for federal court that many voters were disenfranchised by a flawed process. Since supporters for any of the candidates might have been screwed out of their votes, the real vote count could swing either way.
Voters get the option of changing there minds when there’s a runoff. And a lot of hanky lanky gets outed in the meantime. Democrats are despicable!
That makes good sense.
Thank-you for your reply.
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