Challenge To Ranked Choice Voting May Still Make November Ballot in Maine – Which Could Help Trump

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court may decide whether a referendum seeking to end ranked choice voting in the state makes the ballot in November – and therefore may help decide whether President Donald Trump wins a single electoral vote in Maine in November.

A trial court judge on Monday, August 24 ordered the referendum onto the general election ballot, overturning the decision of the Maine Secretary of State – a Democrat – who initially invalidated enough signatures to keep the measure off the ballot. The Secretary of State on Friday, August 28 appealed the trial court’s decision to the state’s highest court, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Ranked choice voting is the law in Maine, and it is set to be used in races for Congress in November 2020. But if a referendum asking voters to overturn it makes the ballot in November, then ranked choice voting won’t be used in the presidential election.

That could help Trump win Maine’s Second Congressional District in the central and northern part of the state, because he wouldn’t need an outright majority to win. That would give him a single electoral vote from the state.

There are some scenarios where a single electoral vote could be the difference between a major party candidate winning the presidency with 270 electoral votes and tying his competitor in the Electoral College at 269 votes apiece – which would throw the election into the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats.

Ranked choice voting provides voters with the option to rank candidates, starting with their first choice and working their way down the ballot.

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