RCV explained

Courtesy of Diane Russell:

A Brief History...

• On November 8, 2016, we passed Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) at the ballot box.

• On October 23, 2017, the Legislature passed a law to delay and repeal RCV.

• On February 2, 2018, we submitted 80,000 signatures (72,000+ valid) to stop the repeal. According to the Maine Constitution, upon "filing," we blocked that law from taking effect, paving the way for an RCV election during the June primaries. At the same time, Maine people will be voting on the question of whether to restore RCV. (Hint: vote YES)

The final certification on the validity of the People's Veto signatures will not come back from the Secretary of State until late this month. However, I designed and personally oversaw every step of the compliance process and am fully confident we will be on the ballot in June.
We did not file this lawsuit lightly. However, since filing our signatures, there have been many statements by leaders that have genuinely confused Maine voters and brought uncertainty to the coming election. This lawsuit asks the courts to clarify the plan for the June primaries. Politicians and the Secretary of State have had since November 2016 to implement this and have not done so.What happens in the Primary if we win the court case?
If we win - and I believe the constitution is on our side - Maine voters will be voting in a Ranked Choice Voting primary where they can vote for multiple candidates in order of preference. At the same time, they will be asked whether they wish to vote for RCV itself.
People's Veto is FULLY ConstitutionalThe Supreme Court gave an advisory opinion at the request of the Legislature. It does not have the weight of a formal ruling, but we have decided to have that debate another day. The People's Veto restores ONLY the parts of law that are fully constitutional, including gubernatorial and state house primaries, federal (US House + US Senate) primaries, and federal general elections (US House + US Senate). We left intact the delay and repeal of the general election for governor and state house, which we will fight for in the future.