As the 2nd District ranked-choice voting results wing their way through the court system, it is the irony of how ranked-choice voting came to be in the first place that is the conundrum – and, in becoming so, it has come to bite the residents of the 2nd Congressional District in the … derriere!
When I ran for the Maine House District 31 seat this year, my bio listed several priority concerns in our state that needed fixing. I quote one (paraphrased due to length):
“Revamping the state referendum process: Our state referendum process has gone from a ‘local’ process to an out-of-state process. … Outside interests deluge the state with dollars and advertisements that are geared more to their interest than to those of our residents. With the southern part of the state making up the largest population center, too often it is the more rural counties that are left out … due to their fewer available votes. We must ensure that the entire state has a voice in the referendum process … so as to allow all 16 counties equal weighting in the process regardless of their populations.”
Case in point: The voters of the 2nd District overwhelmingly voted down ranked-choice voting in the 2016 state referendum. Fast forward to Nov. 6, 2018: The voters of the 2nd District re-elected Bruce Poliquin to a third term with a plurality of votes – results, by the way, that took 24 hours to determine, instead of one week.
Ranked-choice voting, overwhelmingly approved in 2016 by the large population base of the 1st District, which also conveniently happens to be predominantly progressive, now kicked in and swung the race over to Jared Golden, inflicting a second painful bite into the … derriere of the voters of the 2nd District once again!
Oh, the pain, and oh, the irony!
Ken Decatur
South Portland
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