Guest Column

I write in support of Ranked Choice Voting and urge our Brunswick area legislators to not repeal the measure out of expediency.

Ranked Choice Voting is a common sense solution to choosing our elected officials. In a world that has become increasingly polarized, aided by the internet and media channels that can discretely cater to narrow views, we see more and more elections at all levels with multiple candidates. To support them, they need vocal bases who are committed to their narrow views of the world. They also need differentiated messages, often very strident ones, to stand out among the crowd. In such an environment it is increasingly likely that the winner will be someone will narrow views who happens to win a mere plurality of votes and who is disliked by a majority of voters. Indeed, that’s been the experience in recent Maine gubernatorial elections.

Ranked Choice Voting puts a stake through that system by effectively filtering out the marginal candidates and reallocating votes for them to remaining candidates to eventually produce a majority winner.

We use this kind of process in everyday life in our families without even thinking about it. Mom prefers to go to the beach, but would go for a hike. Daughter wants to go fishing but would go for a hike. Son wants to go bicycling but would go to the beach. Dad wants to watch the game, but would go to the beach. Result: there was no clear winner. There were four different ideas on what to do. Nobody’s first choice was the same. But when we include second choices a clear consensus emerges that going to the beach is what would please the most members of the family compared to other possible activities.

What this kind of process does is it forces candidates to the middle. If they are so extreme they will appeal to their base and no one else. But the more reasonable, and civil, that they are the more attractive they become as perhaps the second choice of most voters. In a crowded field that may be the path to victory. Politics is the art of the possible; to work it requires compromise (a word that has almost disappeared from our political vocabulary).

By electing candidates with a broader base we choose consensus candidates who are more capable of compromise and can get things done.

Ranked Choice Voting received the second highest number of votes in any prior referendum in Maine history: 388,000 supporters. In Brunswick, RCV received 7,801 Yes votes compared to 4,649 No votes. That’s nearly 63 percent of the vote, a landslide in conventional politics. But a recent advisory opinion of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court declared that RCV violates the Maine Constitution because for state elective office the Constitution only requires a plurality to win.

Since the state Constitution does not apply to the election of federal officials such as President, Congressmen and Senators, RCV would apply to their elections. This leaves us with two different systems for the next election, a confusing and expensive system to operate. The Legislature must act to correct this situation. Their choices – repeal RCV altogether or pass a constitutional amendment to eliminate the plurality electoral standard. As with all such amendments it would have to be approved by the voters at the next general election.

Unlike the U.S. Constitution that has been amended 27 times, the Maine Constitution has been amended 170 times! It’s not a difficult or profound process. I urge our legislators to respect the will of Maine voters in passing Ranked Choice Voting by offering up an amendment to the Maine Constitution to fully implement a system that elects candidates who receive a majority of votes.

Robert A. Burgess lives in Brunswick