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Maine Is Trying Out A New Way To Run Elections. But Will It Survive The Night?
The man who lives in the Blaine House in Augusta, Maine, was, for many, a sneak preview of the 45th president of the United States. Like Donald Trump, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has transformed the face of government with his politically incorrect brand of conservatism — and he did it despite winning less than a majority of votes. LePage won a seven-way Republican primary for governor in 2010 with 37 percent of the vote, and he beat a Democrat and three independents in the general with just 38 percent.
Eight years later, it's far from clear that LePage would have a path to victory if he were running now in the Republican primary for governor. That's because, partly in response to LePage's plurality wins, Maine on Tuesday will become the first state to use ranked-choice voting to decide a statewide election. So not only are there races in Maine we'll be watching, but the process matters too. And if Maine voters don't pass an initiative reauthorizing the voting method at the same time, this real-life political-science experiment will be cut short.
The question of keeping ranked-choice in place for future primaries and Congressional races in the general election led 54-46 percent with 57% of precincts reporting at 12:05 AM EDT.
Maine's Governor Paul LePage has threatened to not certify the results, but that doesn't matter according to Maine's Secretary of State:
Gov. LePage on Tuesday says he "probably" won't certify results from the voter-approved ranked-choice voting system.
Maine law requires the secretary of state to tabulate results and get them to the governor within 20 days of an election. The governor "shall" certify them within a reasonable time period, but Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, a Democrat, said this only applies to state general elections and not primaries. "He can bluster all he wants, but he can't change the results," Dunlap said.
Also at WGME, Vox, NYT (live results), and Portland Press Herald.
Previously: Maine Supreme Court Approves Ranked-Choice Voting for 2018 Elections
(Score: 4, Informative) by edIII on Wednesday June 13 2018, @08:24PM (3 children)
Are you? Perhaps just disingenuous. What you're actually stating is that Trump got the majority of the Electoral College. Duh, of course he did otherwise he couldn't win right?
What you were referring to was a statement, that anybody with an unbiased brain, could understand as being related to the Popular Vote. No, Trump did not win the popular vote, but won the Electoral College. Those are things we call facts.
Donald Trump Rep. Electoral College (304/538 56.50%) Popular Vote(45.98% −2.10% 62,979,636 −2,864,974) [wikipedia.org]
I think we both know you are better than spinning the truth like Fox News ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Arik on Wednesday June 13 2018, @09:04PM (2 children)
The Electoral College is the body who elects the President, so in that sense you are correct, however if you're implying that he had to win a majority on the first vote in order to win, that's not actually true either.
"What you were referring to was a statement, that anybody with an unbiased brain, could understand as being related to the Popular Vote."
Wait, what? If we're talking about the election of a President then I should think anyone with an unbiased brain would think we were referring to the vote by which the President was elected, the vote by which EVERY President since the beginning of the Republic has been elected, not to something else entirely, but I guess that's just me being rational and fact based again huh?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday June 14 2018, @01:02AM (1 child)
We were not talking about the election of a President, or the Electoral College, or at least, that's not what started the conversation. This was primarily, and started, about Paul Le Page who did not run for President, but Governor of Maine. So when we say that Paul Le Page did not win the popular vote, and then an immediate subsequent post says that neither did Trump, that statement is accurate, assuming Paul Le Page did indeed not win the popular vote in Maine. I don't closely follow Maine politics, somebody can provide a citation ( I don't care enough). Still, anybody following in context knew what the comparison was; Paul Le Page's popular vote vs. Trump's popular vote.
All of your arguments related to the Electoral College are somebody loudly yelling about kumquats, while we were talking about salad dressing :) You just jumped it on because it apparently dissed your boy, without actually trying to understand what they were saying right? right? Yeah.... ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:50AM
But no one said that.
The article said of LePage "he did it despite winning less than a majority of votes" and the AC added "so just like Trump then."
No one mentioned 'popular vote' and that's not a real thing anyway. In fact LePage did win a three way race in 2014 with just under 50% of the votes, but Trump in 2016 won his 2016 race with a solid 57% of votes.
Conclusion, article is accurate on that point, but ACs addition is not accurate.
"All of your arguments related to the Electoral College are somebody loudly yelling about kumquats, while we were talking about salad dressing"
You're talking about the 2016 Presidential election, AC claimed that Trump had less than 50% of the votes. He did not, I pointed that out. You still seem to be confused as to how the President of the USA is elected.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?