Legal experts say Ranked Choice Voting meets Maine’s constitutional requirements

AUGUSTA – In a response to Senate President Michael Thibodeau’s letter of inquiry about Ranked Choice Voting, Attorney General Mills has stated clearly—and correctly—that lawmakers in Augusta cannot stop the citizen initiative for Ranked Choice Voting, as proposed by Maine people, from going to voters this November.

“This reform is incredibly important to the future of Maine politics,” said former state Senator Dick Woodbury, who serves as Chair of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. “It restores majority rule and puts power back in the hands of voters, so politicians are more accountable to the people. It’s a real solution that we can adopt now to help break gridlock and polarization in government.”

Multiple legal experts have analyzed the Ranked Choice Voting citizen initiative and indicated that it clearly meets Maine’s constitutional requirements.

  • According to Peter Pitegoff, former Dean of the University of Maine School of Law (2005-2015), “…the plain text of the Maine Constitution would allow for ranked choice voting, and the history of the plurality clauses of the Constitution would suggest no hurdle to enacting the ranked choice voting legislation.”

  • “After reviewing the proposed legislation, I am convinced that the legislation is constitutional,” according to University of Maine School of Law Professor Dmitry Bam, a recognized scholar and commentator on constitutional interpretation. Bam argues, “This is an issue best left to the electorate.”

  • Jamie Kilbreth, who previously served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of Maine says, “The claim of unconstitutionality is nothing more than rank speculation.”

  • Tim Shannon, a partner at Verrill Dana, argues, “No one should be making constitutional arguments based on terms and phrases plucked out of thin air… The current RCV proposal squares with the text and history of the Maine Constitution.  It is clearly constitutional.”

Opinions from Pitegoff, Bam, Kilbreth, Shannon, and others, can be found here.

Last month, more than 70 sitting and former legislators, local elected officials, and business and faith leaders across Maine delivered letters to the Office of the Attorney General. One letter, from sitting legislators argued,

“More than 70,000 Maine voters requested the right to vote on this reform in November through their Constitutionally-directed process. This is not an easy process, nor should it be. Some could argue that the desire for this reform stems from a frustration that elected leaders need more accountability to the people who elected them. To short circuit voters’ expressed right to petition their government, especially by the very elected leaders the people are attempting to hold more accountable, would be antithetical to the intent of the petition drive itself.”

“Ranked Choice Voting has been proven to work in Portland’s elections, and tens of thousands of Maine citizens have petitioned their government to put it on the November ballot,” added Woodbury. “Voters now get to decide. That’s exactly how democracy is supposed to work.”