Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
A version of this story was published ahead of the 2022 election. It has been updated to reflect this year’s circumstances.
Ranked-choice voting is expected to play a role in Maine’s wide-open June primary elections, including the two crowded gubernatorial races in which candidates are openly coordinating second-choice strategies.
The voting method, which passed in a 2016 referendum, applies to this year’s primary elections for governor and other federal and statewide races with more than two candidates. It is arguably occupying the biggest role in any primary to date.
How does ranked-choice voting work?
Ranked-choice voting only applies to elections with more than two candidates. It differs from traditional elections in which a candidate who gets a plurality of votes wins. Voters can choose multiple candidates in order of their preference. Your vote stays with your first choice until they are eliminated.
A winner is declared if a candidate wins an outright majority in the first round of voting. If no candidate gets more than 50% of total votes, the last-place finisher is eliminated and the second choices of their voters are reallocated to the remaining candidates. This process repeats until a winner emerges with a majority.
How are candidates treating ranked-choice voting?
Ranked-choice voting is already shaping candidate strategy in significant ways. It will be in effect for the gubernatorial primaries, the Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate and the 2nd Congressional District and four legislative primaries.
On the Democratic side, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former House Speaker Hannah Pingree and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows have formed an alliance with U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, coordinating second-choice rankings in an effort to consolidate votes against frontrunner Nirav Shah. Shah has said he is ranking Pingree second.
The trio said they would still vote for Shah if he became the nominee in November, but their coordinated effort reflects an acknowledgment that Shah may lead in first-choice votes without necessarily clearing the 50% threshold needed to avoid a ranked-choice count.
On the Republican side, a similar dynamic played out during a May debate hosted by CBS News 13 and the Bangor Daily News. Real estate executive David Jones and former fitness executive Ben Midgley publicly swapped second-choice endorsements. Jones held a news conference on Monday to unveil his ballot.
Not all candidates have embraced the system. Lawyer Bobby Charles, a frontrunner in the primary, skipped two debates and criticized his opponents for using ranked-choice voting to “manipulate the election,” looking to capitalize on Republican antipathy toward the method.
Do you have to rank every candidate?
No. If you rank just one candidate, your vote remains with them throughout the ranked-choice process. The only way your vote transfers to a second-choice candidate is if your first-choice candidate is eliminated. The downside is that you may pick a candidate who is not in the final round, so you’ll get no say in it.
There is no downside to ranking all the candidates. It is the only way your vote will never be “exhausted” — the term for a ballot that does not rank a continuing candidate.
What mistakes can be made while ranking choices?
The secretary of state’s office has a guide on how to mark your ballot. There are a few things to avoid.
Don’t rank two candidates first. That is an invalid “overvote” that leads to your vote getting thrown out because it is impossible to determine which candidate you favored.
Don’t skip more than two rankings. If you rank a first choice, skip rounds two and three and then mark a fourth choice, only your first choice will be counted.
Don’t skip the first choice. If you rank only a second choice, your municipality will record your vote as a blank in the first round. If the race goes to a ranked-choice count, your second choice would be counted as your first choice — but don’t risk it.
How are ranked-choice results reported?
It is slower than a traditional election night. Municipal clerks report unofficial first-round results to media outlets on election night. If no candidate in a race wins a majority, the secretary of state’s office will hold a central ranked-choice count the following week.
State police would then begin collecting ballot information from cities and towns and transporting it to Augusta for tabulation. The ranked-choice count is a public proceeding. Winners are announced by the secretary of state at a live-streamed news conference that features a spreadsheet generated in real time before the media and candidates.