Around New England

Maine’s Republican Congressman Sues To Stop Ranked-Choice Vote Counting

November 13, 2018

U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin, New England’s lone Republican member of Congress, is asking a federal court to stop the Maine Secretary of State from continuing a count of second and third choices of the third-place and fourth-place finishers in the race, saying ranked-choice voting violates the federal constitution.

Poliquin, a Republican, won a plurality of votes on election day last week, but fell short of a majority. Under Maine’s ranked-choice system of voting approved in 2016, that means he’ll probably lose the election, which according to state law is supposed to be decided by the second choice of voters for the fourth-place candidate and the second and possibly third choice of voters for the third-place candidate.

That’s because under ranked-choice the last-place finisher is eliminated, and the second choices of voters for that candidate are awarded to the remaining candidates.

In this case, the third-place finisher will also be eliminated, and the second choice of voters for that candidate will be awarded to one of the remaining candidates. But if the second choice of a voter for the third-place candidate is the fourth-place candidate who has already been eliminated, then the third-place choice of the voter for the third-place candidate will be awarded to one of the remaining two candidates – in this place, the Republican and the Democrat. Observers expect a majority of second-place and third-place choices to go to the Democrat, Jared Golden, which will likely put him over 50 percent when the counting is done.

But Poliquin argues that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow ranked-choice voting for federal elections. The complaint in U.S. District Court cites Article I, Section 2, which states:

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”

Poliquin argues that this passage presumes that the winner of a plurality of votes will be declared the winner, as has been the case in Maine and in most other states for most of their history — even though it doesn’t say that directly.

“I won the election fair and square,” Poliquin said during a press conference Tuesday, according to a video published by the Bangor Daily News.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled in May 2017 that ranked-choice voting violates the state constitution for state offices, because the Maine Constitution repeatedly states that the winners of state offices are the candidates who get a “plurality” of votes. But the state’s highest court allowed ranked-choice voting to proceed in Maine in elections for federal office.

Poliquin got 46.3 percent in the general election for Maine’s Second Congressional District on Tuesday, November 6. Jared Golden, a Democrat, for 45.6 percent.

Two independent voters split the remaining votes.