Last week, the Maine Republican Party secured essential worker status from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. This means they can hit the streets, while following safety guidelines, and continue to work on collecting signatures for their referendum. If 63,607 valid signatures are collected, the following question would be placed on the ballot:
“Do you want to reject a new law that would require presidential elections in Maine to be decided using ranked-choice voting?”
“We are within striking distance,” said Maine Republican Party Executive Director Jason Savage. Savage also noted the extensive safety measures that volunteers and paid campaign workers will be following to keep the public safe.
Even if Maine voters oppose this and choose to keep ranked-choice voting, the question making it to ballot would put ranked-choice voting on hold until after the election. Republicans have been nationally opposing ranked-choice voting, which could mean the party fears the effect it would have on the November election.
The campaign has already spent $375,000 on the signature gathering process, including $100,000 to GOCO Consulting. GOCO consulting is an established political consulting firm specializing in direct voter contact and grassroots solutions.
Another moving piece is an open lawsuit against Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap filed by the supporters of ranked-choice voting, who claim that he violated the constitution by approving the signature-gathering petition after the ranked-choice voting has already become law. The Legislature passed a bill in 2019 to extend ranked-choice voting to presidential primaries and general elections and it became law earlier this year.
