Courtesy again of the energetic Diane Russell:
- First, I introduced bill after bill in the Legislature to create a Ranked Choice Voting election system. They told me it couldn't be done.
- Then, we launched a citizen's initiative. I was stripped of my committee position for doing so.
- Next, the people of Maine voted YES at the ballot box to get ourselves some better politicians.
- Then, the Legislature voted to REPEAL the people's law because they liked the politicians we had.
- So, we launched a People's Veto to stop the repeal. They laughed at us because, "it's impossible."
- We collected 80,000+ signatures in 88 days in subfreezing winter weather to get on the ballot (AGAIN, but who's counting?) and force implementation for the June 12th primary.
- The State would STILL not implement the law. So we sued. And won.
- Then the Senate GOP (and some Democrats) voted to sue to STOP implementation of Ranked Choice Voting.
- Last night, the Maine State Supreme Court ruled in FAVOR of implementing RCV in June, meaning the People won!
This is really good news. I've already noticed an unusual amount of civility among our 8 Dems vying for governor, because if you want to be someone's 2nd or 3rd choice you can't run the risk of trashing their 1st. Also: this a huge boost for the campaign of Zak Ringelstein, the awesome Democrat running for the seat now held by Angus King. If the People come through again for RCV on June 12, we can vote for the best candidate without fear of the spoiler effect.
