On July 15, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced that his state will proceed with using ranked choice voting (RCV) for November’s presidential election. Maine will make history as the first state to use RCV in a presidential election.

People’s veto effort to repeal ranked-choice voting in the pres. primary and general election does not have enough valid signatures to move fwd to a vote. With 61,334 valid signatures, it's short of the 63,067 threshold. Thus, RCV will be in effect for the Nov. 3 pres. election.

— MaineSOS (@MESecOfState) July 15, 2020

Maine has served as a nationwide leader on RCV by being the first state to adopt the method for its statewide elections. Ranked choice ballots were first used in its 2018 primary and general elections, and are now used in all state and federal primary elections as well as federal general elections.

Maine is one of two states (the other is Nebraska) that does not allocate its electoral votes through a winner-take-all system. In Maine, the winner of each congressional district is awarded one vote, while the statewide winner receives two extra votes. This year, all four of these electoral votes will be awarded via ranked choice voting. 

Mainers have consistently displayed their support for ranked choice voting, approving the system on multiple ballot initiatives since 2016 and rejecting numerous efforts to repeal the method. FairVote celebrates the historic expansion of ranked choice voting, which will allow voters to truly vote their conscience and express their voice at the highest levels of government.