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posted by chromas on Wednesday June 13 2018, @04:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the [6]-a⠀[⠀]-b⠀[3]-c⠀[1]-d⠀[⠀]-e⠀[9]-f⠀[2]-g⠀[4]-h⠀[7]-i⠀[5]-j⠀[⠀]-k⠀[8]-l dept.

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


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:44AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:44AM (#692664)

    Just wanted to say that as much as I hate the R team, frojack isn't wrong here.

    The D team just completely failed. They picked an awful candidate, and then she had an awful campaign. I don't think Clinton even came to my state to speak once! She and the D team just assumed my state was in the bag. Arrogant fucks. My state wound up going to Trump.

    And can we just elide the whole electoral college whargarbl? If you want to abolish the electoral college, you'll probably need to call an Article V convention. Lots of people want one of those. So let's have one instead of bitching and moaning because She Lost.

    Direct all anger over She Lost squarely at the DNC. (This method works for me personally.) If the DNC hadn't fucked over Sanders, he would have won in the general election in a landslide. Powerful interests wanted Clinton, and so we got Trump thanks to their out-of-touch hubris.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:52AM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:52AM (#692668) Journal
    "The D team just completely failed. They picked an awful candidate, and then she had an awful campaign. I don't think Clinton even came to my state to speak once!"

    Why would she? The fix was in. The DNC made sure she was the D nominee, and her friends in the media pushed Trump as the R nominee, at her request. Everyone was certain that it was impossible for even her to win against Trump.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday June 14 2018, @03:11AM

      by Arik (4543) on Thursday June 14 2018, @03:11AM (#692674) Journal
      "impossible for even her to win against Trump. "

      impossible to LOSE against Trump, obviously.
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?