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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Ranked-Choice Voting in Maine Unlikely in Presidential Contest

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Wednesday, August 26, 2020   

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Ranked-choice voting probably is not an option for the presidential election because a judge just approved a GOP-led repeal for the ballot. That puts the issue on ice until after the vote.

Anna Kellar, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Maine and Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said the system avoids runoff elections and lets people vote for a third-party candidate without worrying it will end up benefiting the candidate they dislike.

"You don't get the situation where, because there's a spoiler or because there's multiple candidates, someone ends up winning when they maybe only had 30% or 40% of the voters supporting them," Kellar said.

In 2018, Republican Bruce Poliquin won the first round but lost to Democrat Jared Golden in the second round because left-leaning voters were split between several candidates.

Ranked-choice voting, which has been approved by voters twice, allows people to list candidates in order of preference. Then, if no candidate gets a majority, the last-place finisher is taken off the list and those voters' second choices are redistributed.

This election will feature President Donald Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, plus the Green Party and Libertarian candidates. Without ranked-choice voting, Kellar said, there's a slim chance a candidate could win without a majority and get District 2's vote in the Electoral College.

"Even though there's a slim chance that one electoral vote from the 2nd Congressional District and its tiny margin could swing the entire presidential election," Kellar said, "it's not too likely -- but it's also not impossible."

The deadline for changes to the ballot is Friday, so barring a last-minute appeal, the issue of whether to use ranked-choice voting in future presidential elections will be decided on Nov. 3.

The ruling is online at mainepublic.org.

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Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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