# Maine Ranked Choice Voting Initiative struck down by court **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 23, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290 "2017-05-23T16:51:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/1 "2017-05-23T16:51:18Z")
> **[Maine’s highest court rules ranked-choice voting is unconstitutional](https://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/23/maine-high-court-says-ranked-choice-voting-is-unconstitutional/)** > > The advisory opinion means lawmakers must start the process of amending the Constitution to allow the voter-approved law or repeal it, which is more likely. Question 5 passed last November. It was to use ranked choice voting for all elections to the Legislature, Congress, and Governor. The court struck it down because of issues with “plurality” in the state constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/2 "2017-05-23T18:54:15Z")
So this was an advisory opinion from the state Supreme Court? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/3 "2017-05-24T01:46:23Z")
I note that it was the Maine court ruling on the Maine Constitution, (with a serious dearth of Maine legislators claiming that the court erred in its decision). The topic of ranked choice voting does not appear to be an issue that has been addressed by any U.S. court and even in Maine it appears to be an issue that is still open to further discussion, (provided the constitutional language is addressed). ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/4 "2017-05-24T05:40:56Z")
I had to look up what plurality meant, seems like they’re only considering your first choice as a vote, when in reality all your choices are votes. I pretty much always give my first choice to the nutbag candidate on my “side”, my second then goes to the mainstreamer. So if push comes to shove and it goes to preferences, my loony gets eliminated and my 2nd choice then counts as a primary vote. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/5 "2017-05-24T06:01:51Z")
Well, to pick nits, all your choices are preferences expressed with respect to your one vote. A quick look at the [Constitution of Maine](http://www.maine.gov/legis/const/) Art IV Pt 1 section 5 and Pt 2 sections 3 and 4 suggests that the court is correct. The process described there presumes a voting system in which a voter must allocate his vote to one candidate absolutely, with the candidate securing a plurality of votes being elected. Changing this system might be a very good idea, but the way to do that is to amend or replace the relevant sections of the Constitution. And it doesn’t seem that the Constitution can be amended by petition and referendum. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/6 "2017-05-27T00:42:43Z")
It does look like the Maine Constitution does define elections by _plurality_, not majority, and it seems perfectly plausible (not having read the actual ruling) that a legal analysis would conclude the author’s intent was the classic largest-single-vote-getter standard. So ranked choice for state level offices would have required a constitutional amendment. Since several states **do** have a system of _runoff_ elections to achieve a majority, it would seem that there is so far no \*federal \*constitutional impediment to direct-popular-vote offices being elected on something other than classic single first past the post plurality vote. In Law, procedure counts. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maine-ranked-choice-voting-initiative-struck-down-by-court/787290/7 "2017-05-27T04:12:35Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Since several states **do** have a system of _runoff_ elections to achieve a majority, it would seem that there is so far no \*federal \*constitutional impediment to direct-popular-vote offices being elected on something other than classic single first past the post plurality vote. Yes, and there are already a handful of local jurisdictions that use instant runoff voting. I know San Francisco uses it for its mayoral races. This ruling also doesn’t apply to primaries or to congressional elections (which are not mentioned in the Maine Constitution), although the quotes in the article make it sound like the legislature wants to use the ruling as a pretext to dump the whole thing.