Maine Is About To Try Out A New Way Of Electing Politicians
canada goose coats on sale Mark Eves wants to be the next governor of Maine, but in May he did something unusual for a candidate actively seeking office: He told voters who his second choice would be. canada goose coats on sale
canada goose clearance sale Betsy Sweet, the fellow Democrat Eaves said was his second choice, returned the favor and said Eaves would be her second choice. canada goose clearance sale
buy canada goose jacket cheap Politicians in primary races often endorse their former opponents after they end their campaigns, but the comments from Eves and Sweet have a much deeper significance ahead of Maine’s June 12 primaries. For the first time, people across canada goose black friday sale the state won’t just choose one person to go on and represent them in the general election, but will get to rank the candidates in their preferred canada goose clearance order. buy canada goose jacket cheap
Maine will be the first place to use the system, called ranked choice voting, in statewide races this June (it’s already used in somelocal elections). The system kicks in for contests that have three or more candidates. Canada Goose Jackets Here’s how uk canada goose it works:
Supporters of the new system say that giving voters more choices encourages politicians to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate, reducing extremism and polarization. They also say it makes races more competitive and gives voters more of a voice because they can choose the candidate they want even if that candidate doesn’t have much support without worrying that their ballot will be wasted.
Detractors say the system is canada goose store confusing and potentially unconstitutional.
canada goose clearance The system canadian goose jacket is particularly appealing in Maine, a state with a strong tradition of independent candidates who can affect the outcomes of races and lead to a winner receiving less than a majority of votes. Gov. Paul LePage (R) won in 2010 with just 38.2 percent of the vote and was re elected in 2014 with 48.2 percent. Canada Goose Outlet As of March, the number of voters unenrolled in a party in Maine outnumbered those in a political party. In nine of the state’s cheap Canada Goose 11 gubernatorial races, canada goose outlet the winner has gotten less than 50 percent of the vote. canada goose clearance
Eves, a former speaker of the Maine House of https://www.canadagoosejacketsoutsale.com Representatives, says the new way of voting hasn’t changed much about the way he’s campaigning, but when he meets a voter whose mind is already made up in favor of someone else, he asks to be considered as a second choice.
Canada Goose Outlet “What I like about canada goose uk outlet is you’re still in the game,” Eves said in an interview. “You’re still earning people’s votes. It might canada goose coats not Canada Goose Online be their first vote, but those second votes are going to be extraordinarily critical, so you still have any opportunity to persuade somebody to be [their] second choice vote.” Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose store What I like about is you’re still in the game. You’re still earning people’s votes. It might not be their first vote, but those second votes are going to be extraordinarily critical. canada goose store
Maine gubernatorial candidate Mark Eves, a Democrat
canada goose deals The seven Democrats and four Republicans vying to be the nominees of their uk canada goose outlet respective parties have still exchanged plenty of political Canada Goose Parka attacks. But candidates have to be more calculating and weigh the effectiveness of a counterattack that would potentially lose them the second place votes of an opponent’s supporters. canada goose deals
Canada Goose online Monica Castellanos, a spokeswoman for Adam Cote, another Democratic candidate for governor, said ranked choice voting hadn’t really affected campaign strategy, because it’s unclear what impact it will have on the electorate. Canada Goose online
canadian goose jacket “I think we just don’t know. We have nothing to compare it to,” she said. canadian goose jacket
Not everyone is a fan of ranked choice voting.
canada goose black friday sale While Democrats have embraced the new system, Republicans have opposed it. They say it’s confusing, and point to a provision in the Maine Constitution that says candidates for office only have to be elected by a plurality, Canada Goose sale not a majority. canada goose black friday sale
Republicans have fought hard to block the new system in court, saying Democrats are pushing the measure to ensure that a conservative governor can’t get elected to office. And even Democrats in other states have opposed a ranked choice system. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) blocked its wider use, saying ranked choice voting is “overly complicated and confusing” and “deprives voters canada goose factory sale of genuinely informed choice.”
“I think you outright win these things. With ranked choice, you could be No. 2 and win. I don’t think that makes sense in an office where any degree of strength is required,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D Calif.) told HuffPost.
canada goose None of the Republicans running for governor in Maine responded to HuffPost’s requests for comment. Garrett Mason, the state Senate’s majority leader and a Republican candidate for governor,told PBS in May that ranked choice voting was illegal. canada goose
cheap Canada Goose “The word plurality is very specific in Maine’s constitution. It means first past the post, whoever has the most votes wins, and that was deliberate and on purpose. I took an oath to uphold the constitution and the constitution is clear on this matter. It’s illegal,” Mason said. cheap Canada Goose
Canada Goose sale “This was a way to make sure that Paul LePage never got elected again, or someone like Paul LePage never got elected again,” he added. “It’s mean spirited, it is partisan.” Canada Goose sale
Will Maine try ranked choice voting again?
Even as Maine becomes the first state to use ranked choice voting canada goose clearance sale statewide, it’s unclear whether it will continue to do so after the June election. When Maine voters approved a referendum to use ranked choice voting in 2016, Canada Goose online lawmakers voted to delay implementing it until 2021, citing cheap canada goose uk concerns that it conflicted with the state’s constitution. But the law also said that if the state failed to amend the constitution by 2021 to accommodate ranked choice voting, implementing the new system would be postponed indefinitely. Republicans sought to block using the system in canada goose uk black friday the June 12 primary, but were rebuffed in both federal and state court.
Canada Goose Jackets Organizers were able to gather enough signatures to place a second referendum on the June ballot a “people’s veto” that would block the legislature’s move to delay implementing ranked choice voting in other future elections. Canada Goose Jackets
The timing means that on June 12, Mainers will vote using the ranked choice system while also voting on whether to keep using it. If the “people’s veto” canada goose coats on sale passes, the system would be used in all primary elections with more than two candidates as well as in federal general elections. But absent a constitutional amendment, the system will not be used for general elections of state offices, because of the provision in the Maine Constitution that state races need canada goose to be decided by a plurality.
canada goose coats The unique timing also means ranked choice voting advocates are engaged in a campaign to simultaneously teach people across Maine how ranked choice voting works while also making a case to keep it. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting and groups like the League of Women Voters have launched television advertisements and conducted mock elections on voters’ favorite beers and pizzas to show them how the system works. canada goose coats
Kyle Bailey, campaign manager for the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, told HuffPost he hopes the canada goose uk shop attention surrounding the new system will encourage people to rethink the way they elect candidates.
buy canada goose jacket “I don’t think most people are familiar with the election system they have because it’s probably been used for 50, 100, 150 years,” Bailey said. “I think there’s an opportunity with what’s happening in Maine to tell the story of ‘There are different ways to go Canada Goose Coats On Sale about electing our politicians.'” buy canada goose jacket.
