Proposal to Expand Ranked-Choice Voting in Maine Is Unconstitutional: Maine Supreme Court

A proposed expansion of ranked-choice voting in Maine would violate the state Constitution, the Maine Supreme Court opined on Monday. The bill, L.D. 1666, has enough support to pass the Democrat-majority Legislature. It proposes broadening ranked-choice voting to gubernatorial and state legislative seats, counting only the final vote tally to determine a winner. State lawmakers asked the Maine Supreme Court to examine the legislation before the 2026 elections. The justices returned a unanimous advisory opinion against the proposal. “L.D. 1666’s conception of a vote as being a series of instructions or rankings that when tabulated pursuant to a ranked-choice process leads to an eventual final vote is inconsistent with the constitutional concept of a ‘vote,'” the justices said....