In two weeks, Maine will hold its second election using ranked-choice voting, a system that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. But ranked-choice will only be used in congressional races. The closely-watched contest to see who succeeds Republican Gov. Paul LePage will be decided the way it has been for nearly 140 years.The complicated reasons for this have been widely reported. But some voters appear to be surprised.
Lewiston City Clerk Kathy Montejo says many residents who have been voting absentee have had no problems using ranked-choice to select their preferred candidates for U.S. House and Senate.
But when it’s time to fill out their gubernatorial ballots? "They kind of lean out of the booth and say, 'Hey, how come I can't do this for governor?'" Montejo says.
The reasons why ranked-choice cannot be used in the race for the Blaine House involve a slew of court battles triggered by the passage of ranked-choice voting two years ago.
Last year the Maine Supreme Judicial Court said ranked-choice voting could violate an obscure, 138-year-old provision in the Maine Constitution. But the court's opinion only applied to gubernatorial and legislative races, and only in general elections.
Election officials like David Huntington, of Old Orchard Beach, say some voters are still unaware that they will use two different systems this November. "I would say confused, and second of all, cavalier attitude - they really don't care," Huntington says.
Montejo, the city clerk in Lewiston, says some of the confusion might stem from the fact that ranked-choice voting was used for the governor's race during the June primary.
"A lot of voters I don't think remember the difference between the June election and November election. One's the nomination and one is the true election," she says.
Here again the Maine law court's opinion is key. The constitutionality concerns the court raised are specific to the general elections - held in November.
But the state Constitution says nothing about primary elections, which are basically party nomination contests.
"So that's why we were able to use ranked-choice voting in June for all races," says Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap. "But we can only use it for federal races in the November election."
Still, Dunlap says he's hearing that some voters are still working under the assumption that they'll be ranking the four gubernatorial candidates when they go to the polls.
"You know, we've been getting a lot of questions, both from people on the street and organizations and local election officials, about why aren't we voting using ranked-choice voting in the race for governor. Because that was the really the impetus behind ranked-choice voting in the first place," he says.
That was the impetus for some Democrats, anyway. Many progressives who supported the passage of ranked-choice voting two years ago, were haunted by the 2010 gubernatorial race - a five-way contest in which the center-left vote was split, helping to hand Republican Gov. Paul LePage his first victory.
But the law court's opinion last year - along with Republican lawmakers' refusal to send a constitutional amendment to voters - quickly extinguished the hope that ranked-choice voting would eliminate the so-called “spoiler effect” in future governor’s races.
The result of all this has been sharply contrasting campaigns. Zak Ringelstein, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat held by independent Angus King, recently released a television ad that captures the promises supporters of ranked-choice voting made two years ago.
AUDIO FROM AD: "With ranked-choice voting there is no spoiler effect. We can vote our hopes by voting Ringelstein for U.S. Senate. Rank Zak one, Angus two on Nov. 6," Ringelstein says in a recent television ad.
But in the white-knuckle race for governor, it's business as usual.
AUDIO FROM AD: "Carrier politician Janet Mills: She's been running for office for nearly 40 years. She wants to raise takes on working families. Liberal Terry Hayes: Hayes supports universal health care and far left environmental policies and regulations," the ad's narrator says.
It’s no accident that the ad by the Maine Republican Party portrays Democrat Janet Mills and independent Terry Hayes as a pair of liberals.
It’s intended to enhance the possibility that the two candidates split the center-left vote, just as LePage's opponents did eight years ago.
Democrats are worried that it could happen, and some are expressing frustration that the same advocates who ran the ranked-choice voting campaign are now working for Hayes - a candidate lagging in the polls, but who could pull votes away from Mills.
Hayes' campaign insists that she's pulling Republican votes from GOP nominee Shawn Moody. But Jonathan Brown, a canvasser for the Maine People's Alliance, a progressive advocacy group, says he's encountering center-left voters who plan to vote for Hayes first and Mills second - except they can't.
"There haven't been too many people that are misinformed about our use of ranked-choice voting for this November's election,” Brown says. “But I do believe there's been enough that would make a difference in the election.”
Brown says many of those he's talked to say they'll vote for Mills after they learn that ranked-choice won't be used in the governor’s race.
But some others are not persuaded, which means Mills has just under two weeks to convince them that she's their first and only choice.
Originally published Oct. 24, 2018 at 6:00 a.m. ET.
