Does ranked choice voting have a future in Maine?

[limpyhobbler]

Just posting a link. Might be of interest to some folks

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/19/news/portland/does-ranked-choice-voting-have-a-future-in-maine


By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff
Posted Dec. 19, 2011, at 8:20 p.m.
Last modified Dec. 19, 2011, at 11:06 p.m.

PORTLAND, Maine — Before the final vote tabulations were made, a Southern California man emailed the Bangor Daily News with a prediction about the Portland mayoral race from afar.

Terry Reilly, an outspoken nationwide critic of Portland’s newly implemented ranked choice voting system, predicted the winner would end up with about 8,000 votes from the nearly 20,000 ballots cast in the mayoral race. Less than a majority.

The use of ranked choice voting is under fire in Reilly’s state, specifically in San Francisco, with an opposition group working to put a repeal question before voters as early as next year. There, voter turnout waned and campaigning reportedly turned negative this fall. Opponents say ranked choice voting hasn’t delivered on what its supporters promised when it was installed about seven years ago.

In Portland, by comparison, mayoral candidates and city officials largely considered the city’s first experience with the program a success. But City Councilor Nicholas Mavodones — the previous mayor who came in third behind Michael Brennan and Ethan Strimling — said residents should prepare to think hard about whether they want to use ranked choice voting again in four years, when Brennan’s term is up.