FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski
Office: 626-8404/ Cell: 441-7638

Ranked-choice voting people’s veto effort does not qualify for ballot

AUGUSTA – Certification of the people’s veto of Ch. 539, Public Laws of 2019, “An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting for Presidential Primary and General Elections in Maine” is complete and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap confirmed today that the effort does not have enough valid signatures to move forward to a vote.

The proponents of this veto effort submitted 9,482 petitions with 72,512 signatures to the Elections Division of the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions on Monday, June 15, 2020.

Elections Division staff have completed the process of certifying the petitions and found 61,334 valid signatures, while 11,178 were not valid. Petitions for this effort were issued on February 3, 2020 and a minimum of 63,067 signatures from registered Maine voters is required. Thus, the petition effort is not valid.

This people’s veto effort sought to repeal parts of Chaptered Law 539, which expands the ranked-choice method of voting to the presidential primary and general election in Maine. Without enough signatures to further the veto effort, the law will now be in effect for the November 3, 2020 presidential election.