In a unanimous decision that cuts through years of political maneuvering, the Maine Supreme Court has ruled that a Democrat-backed effort to expand ranked-choice voting (RCV) would violate the state’s constitution. The advisory opinion leaves little room for interpretation: if enacted, the proposal simply wouldn’t pass constitutional muster.
The ruling centered on legislation known as LD 1666, which sought to expand RCV to general and special elections for governor, state representatives, and state senators. While Maine already uses the system in certain federal and primary elections, the court made it clear that applying it to these state-level races crosses a constitutional line.
For those unfamiliar, ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates rather than pick just one. If no candidate wins a majority, the lowest-ranked contender is eliminated, and votes are redistributed in successive rounds until someone reaches a majority. Sounds complicated? That’s because it is — and according to the court, it doesn’t align with Maine’s constitutional requirement.
The key issue comes down to one word: “plurality.” Maine’s constitution mandates that winners of these state offices be decided by whoever gets the highest number of votes — not necessarily a majority. The court found that RCV, with its multiple rounds of counting, can result in a candidate who initially leads in votes ultimately losing. In other words, the system can override the very outcome the constitution is designed to protect.
Even Maine’s Democrat Attorney General Aaron Frey acknowledged this problem in his arguments to the court, stating that RCV is fundamentally a “sequential” process that can overturn an initial plurality winner. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the proposal his party was pushing.
This isn’t the first time the issue has come up. Back in 2017, the same court reached a similar conclusion, warning that using RCV in gubernatorial and state legislative races would conflict with the constitution. Monday’s decision essentially reaffirms that position — reinforcing that no amount of legislative wordplay can sidestep the state’s foundational legal framework.
Republicans were quick to praise the ruling, with Maine GOP Chairman Jim Deyermond calling it a decisive blow against efforts to impose RCV more broadly. And given the court’s clarity, it’s hard to see how proponents of the system move forward without pursuing a constitutional amendment — which is a much steeper climb.
At the end of the day, this decision underscores a simple but critical principle: election rules must follow the constitution, not political convenience. And in this case, the court made it clear that no matter how creative the proposal, the rules are the rules.
For voters in Maine, that means elections for key state offices will continue to be decided the traditional way — by who gets the most votes, plain and simple. And sometimes, simple is exactly what works.
