Gordon Weil is a respected Democrat with a record of public service for which he should be proud. However, in a recent column, Mr. Weil made claims about ranked choice voting that are simply not true. Perhaps he misunderstands how ranked choice voting works. Allow me to clear up three incorrect assertions from his column:

1. Mr. Weil claims that candidates who receive no first-choice rankings can win. Not possible. A candidate who receives no first choices would be defeated in the first round.

Here’s how ranked choice voting works: if no candidate receives an outright majority in the first round, the candidate with the fewest first-choice rankings is defeated, and voters who liked that candidate best have their ballots cast for their second choices. This process repeats until the candidate with the most votes in the final round is elected by a majority of voters. It’s that simple and straightforward.

2. Mr. Weil claims that ranked choice voting might lead to the system being gamed. Not true. Strategic voting doesn’t work under ranked choice voting. Voters can rank the candidates they like best without worrying that they will help elect the candidate they like the least.

With ranked choice voting, there would be no more “spoiler” effect. In contrast, the system we have now is full of opportunities for vote-splitting and the need for strategic voting.

Ranked choice voting puts more power in the hands of voters and makes politicians, parties and PACs think twice before running negative campaigns that could alienate voters and cost them the majority coalition needed to win a ranked choice election. This reform is a very real solution to very real problems.

3. Mr. Weil claims that this is a partisan response to a particular election. Wrong. In nine of the last 11 elections for Maine’s governor, candidates were elected by less than half of voters: two Democrats, two Republicans and two Independents. The first ranked choice voting bill was introduced in the Maine Legislature in 2001.

Ranked choice voting has been endorsed by leaders of all political persuasions, and 73,000 Maine Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians and unaffiliated voters signed petitions circulated by volunteers to put this simple, common-sense and nonpartisan reform on the November ballot.

Increasing hyper-partisanship, gridlock and negativity in politics show us that we need to change the way we elect our leaders. In 2008, members of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Maine began to study and discuss election methods that might improve campaigning and governing in Maine.

Our members reached consensus that ranked choice voting held the best promise for giving voters what they deserve: more choice, more power and a government of, by and for the people, with leaders elected by a majority of voters. We’ll be better off as a state if the majority of voters elect our leaders.

This is about our right to determine how democracy works. I urge voters to learn more and join us for a better democracy.

Ann Luther
League of
Women Voters of Maine