Maine is one of the few states to dabble in the awful practice of ranked-choice voting, or RCV. RCV hasn’t worked out well anywhere it has been tried; trust me, I’m from Alaska. We don’t seem to be able to shake this stupid idea off; it’s going to be on this fall’s ballot for repeal again, and again, we’ll probably see millions in cash from outside spent campaigning against the repeal. That money all comes from Democrats and Democrat-affiliated groups, which is probably all you need to know.
Now, in Maine, in an advisory opinion, the Maine Supreme Court unanimously ruled that proposed legislation expanding RCV would violate Maine’s Constitution.
In a Monday advisory opinion, the Maine Supreme Court unanimously determined that legislation aimed at expanding the use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in the state would, “if enacted, violate the Maine Constitution.”
“[T]his decision provides clarity against efforts to pollute our state elections with Ranked-Choice Voting,” Maine Republican Party Chairman Jim Deyermond said in a statement. “This decision should, finally, end the attempts from the radical left to force RCV into Maine’s elections for Governor, Senate, and House.”
An advisory opinion is a court opinion that offers a nonbinding interpretation of a law, sometimes asked for as a preventive measure to avoid lawsuits. Cornell Law School describes an advisory opinion thusly:
An advisory opinion is a court’s nonbinding interpretation of law. It states the opinion of a court upon a legal question submitted by a legislature, government official, or another court. Parties seeking advisory opinions tend to do so to better understand their odds of winning a potential lawsuit before risking the expensive process of litigation.
The federal courts are prohibited from issuing advisory opinions by Article 3, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. State courts are not so constrained.
So, this advisory opinion is aimed at legislation that would expand RCV in Maine.
As The Federalist has previously reported, RCV is a voting method in which voters “rank” candidates on the ballot. If none of the nominees win a majority in the first round of voting, the candidate in last place is eliminated. His votes go to whichever candidate was ranked second. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority.
Monday’s decision comes weeks after the state legislature asked the court to weigh in on the constitutionality of bill LD 1666, which would expand the voting method in the state to apply to general and special elections for governor, state representative, and state senator. Maine currently uses RCV in primary elections and general elections for federal office.
Now, since this is a non-binding opinion, the Maine legislature may well go ahead with the RCV expansion and take their chances. So this is a victory for one-man, one-vote, but only a minor and qualified one.
Read More: New Dispute Erupts on Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting Repeal
Alaska’s Governor Dunleavy Speaks Out Against Ranked Choice Voting
Still, it’s a start, and this may well lead to the proposed legislation being dropped, since this would appear to be a very good indication that the state would lose a lawsuit.
RCV is proving to be a bad idea everywhere it’s tried. Here in Alaska it’s used for primary and general elections, replacing our old traditional partisan primaries; it may well be mostly due to this system that Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) won her last reelection, and it probably helped former Democrat Representative Mary Peltola win when the Republican ticket was split between two well-known candidates, Representative Nick Begich III (AK-At Large) and former Governor Sarah Palin.
I’m not as conversant with Maine politics as I am with Alaska, but experience indicates this isn’t a good system for Maine, either.
RCV is not a good system. It violates the principle of one voter, one vote; it is excessively confusing and complicated. If, in this instance, Maine is able to at least prevent expansion of this stupid idea, well, that’s not nothing.
Editor’s Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.
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