PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine)--Maine’s political world, and tens of thousands of voters, are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide how the June 12 primary election will be conducted. On Thursday, the Law Court heard oral arguments in the Ranked Choice Voting case. The Maine Senate has challenged the authority of the Secretary of State to use ranked choice in the coming primary.
In the hearing, Senate attorney Tim Woodcock argued that the Legislature never authorized the Secretary to take the steps he has proposed to use RCV for the primary. Calling it a question on separation of powers, Woodcock said the Secretary of State plans to collect ballots and voting machine memory sticks from all the towns and cities after the election, and transport them to Augusta for the actual ranked-choice count. Woodcock told the justices those actions won’t be legal unless they have been authorized by the Legislature.
Several of the justices appeared to challenge that view. And Assistant Attorney General Phyllis Gardiner, representing the Secretary of State, said the Senate was wrong. Gardiner said the Secretary has broad authority to oversee and manage elections, and that her research found nothing in state statute to say the ranked choice plan cannot be used.
The Justices acknowledged the need for a quick decision on the seven issues they have been asked to decide,. No date was set for a ruling, but the Secretary of State’s office has said that in order to prepare and print the ballots and meet other deadlines, it needs to know by April 20 If ranked choice voting can be used.