See Jones v. Dunlap.
“Ranked-choice voting” allows voters to rank three or more candidates in order of preference, rather than choosing just one. If no candidate gets 50% of the vote in the first round of voting, then the lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated, and the votes are counted again. For voters who listed the lowest-ranked candidates as their top choices, their second choices become their first choices in the recount. Supporters of ranked-choice voting say that it ensures that the candidate with the broadest support is elected.
In recent years, Maine implemented ranked-choice voting for elections for president, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and this year it plans to become the first state to use ranked-choice voting in a presidential election. Republicans in Maine wanted to put a referendum on the 2020 ballot to end ranked-choice voting. To do that, they needed to gather signatures totaling at least 10% of the number of votes cast for governor in the last election. But Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap rejected their petition, finding that they fell short of the roughly 63,000 signatures required.
A state trial court disagreed with Dunlap and ruled that the referendum qualified for the ballot. It concluded that the secretary of state could not require the people who circulated the petition to be registered to vote in the place where they were living at the time. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, reversed the lower court’s ruling on Sept. 22. It concluded that the Republicans had not shown that such a requirement violates the First Amendment.
The Republicans went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 2, asking the justices to block the state from using ranked-choice voting while its appeal is litigated. Justice Stephen Breyer denied the plea on Oct. 6 without comment. That ruling means that the state can go forward with ranked-choice voting and the referendum will not be on the ballot in 2020. Although Maine has only four electoral votes, the presidential election was a tight one in 2016, and if ranked-choice voting had been in effect, it might well have changed the outcome in the state: Hillary Clinton carried the popular vote with 47.83% of ballots cast, Donald Trump was second with 44.87% of the vote, and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson won 5.09% of the vote. This year, the Senate race between Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Sara Gideon, her Democratic challenger, is expected to be a key one in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate.
Date | Proceedings and Orders |
---|---|
August 24, 2020 | Order by Maine Superior Court reinstating ballot measure for a "people's veto" of ranked-choice voting proposal |
August 31, 2020 | Motion for stay of superior court ruling filed by The Committee for Ranked-Choice voting, et al., in Maine Supreme Court |
September 22, 2020 | Decision issued by Maine Supreme Court suspending "people's veto" measure and reinstating ranked-choice voting |
September 23, 2020 | Motion to stay ruling pending relief from U.S. Supreme Court filed by David Jones, et al., in Maine Supreme Court |
October 2, 2020 | Application for stay filed at U.S. Supreme Court by David Jones, et al. |
October 6, 2020 | Application for stay denied by Justice Breyer |
The Supreme Court got rid of several cases this morning -- in one fell swoop. Read @AHoweBlogger's latest coverage of the emoluments cases, spiritual advisers at Texas executions, Texas abortion policies, COVID restrictions, and NY political corruption.
Justices vacate rulings on Trump and emoluments - SCOTUSblog
The Supreme Court on Monday morning released orders from the justices’ private conference on Friday, Jan. 22. The justices once again did not ac...
www.scotusblog.com
In this morning's orders list, SCOTUS took no action on pending cert petitions involving:
- Mississippi's near-ban on abortions after 15 weeks,
- a Trump rule banning Title X clinics from providing abortion referrals,
- the Trump administration's "public charge" immigration rule.
No real opinions today. The Supreme Court dismissed cert as "improvidently granted" in Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc.—a case about arbitration agreements.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-963_2c8f.pdf
That's all for today, folks.
The Supreme Court does not add any cases to its docket. It sends the Trump emoluments case back to the lower court with instructions to dismiss as moot.
Here is the orders list. https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/012521zor_3f14.pdf
Here is the orders list. https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/012521zor_3f14.pdf
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