Portland, Maine Residents Should Vote Yes On Question A

Tomorrow, while voters across Maine cast their ballots in the presidential primary, Portland will also have the opportunity to improve our city’s local elections by expanding Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) to all offices. Anyone who supports this shift should vote Yes on Question A.

The beginning of Question A from the Portland sample ballot.

Right now, Portland uses RCV to elect our mayor, and we also use it for offices like governor and US senator. But for school board and city council, we’re still stuck with the traditional method, where candidates can win an election with less than 50% support.

This happened just a few months ago: I live in District 3, where five candidates were running for the open city council seat, allowing Tae Chong to win that race with 43% of the vote. Since the second-place finisher only received 25%, Mr. Chong would probably still be Councilor whether RCV was used or not — but using RCV to consider voters’ second choices would have ensured the winner got a true majority, giving him a stronger mandate and giving voters more confidence in the process.

Portland voters have approved RCV multiple times for various offices, and I hope we do so again. But we need more than 50% approval — a requirement in election law says that at least 9,982 people must cast ballots for this vote to take effect, so turnout is incredibly important. 

If you support Ranked Choice Voting, please get out and vote tomorrow, and vote Yes on Question A.