Augusta, Maine - The Elections Division of the Department of the Secretary of State today
received petitions for the people's veto of "An Act to Implement
Ranked-choice Voting in 2021." The proponents of this veto effort
submitted 13,440 petitions with an estimated 72,175 signatures to the
Elections Division on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018.
Elections Division staff will now have until March 5 to certify the
signatures on these petitions, to confirm whether enough valid
signatures have been submitted to qualify the question for the June 12,
2018 ballot. The number of valid signatures of registered Maine voters
currently required is 61,123 (10% of the total votes cast for Governor
at the November 4, 2014 General Election).
Petitions for this effort were issued on Nov. 6, 2017. This people's
veto effort would repeal parts of Public Law 2017, Chapter 316, which
was passed by the Maine Legislature in October 2017. The law would delay
the implementation of ranked-choice voting until December 1, 2021
unless, prior to that date, the voters of the State ratify an amendment
to the constitution of Maine; and would indefinitely postpone
implementation if the constitutional change is not made.
Ranked-choice voting was initially approved by the voters in November
2016; legislators voted for the delay/indefinite postponement due to
constitutional conflicts in the ranked-choice voting law.
The people's veto seeks a partial implementation of ranked-choice
voting, as allowed by the Maine Constitution, for Maine's primary
elections and for federal elections. If the petitions are certified to
meet the signature threshold, ranked-choice voting will be in effect for
the June 12, 2018 primary election.
In the event that the veto question is certified to appear on the June
12 ballot: If the ballot question is approved, ranked-choice voting
would be used for the offices of U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress for the
general election.
If it is not approved, PL 2017, C. 316 will take effect and
ranked-choice voting will not be implemented, unless the voters amend
the constitution as provided therein. Visit http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/citizens/index.html to view the proposed legislation in its entirety.
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