# Elections in Maine

Elections in Maine :
Federal offices
U.S. President
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
Dem
1988
1992
1996
2000
Dem
2004
Dem
2008
Dem
Rep
2012
Rep
2016
Dem
Rep
2020
Dem
Rep
2024
Dem
Rep
U.S. Senate
1820
1821
1823
1823
1827
1829 sp
1835
1835 sp
1837 sp
1839
1840
1843 sp
1846
1848 sp
1851
1854 sp
1857
1857 sp
1859
1861 sp
1863
1865 sp
1869
1870 sp
1875
1877
1877 sp
1880
1881
1881 sp
1883
1887
1889
1893
1895
1899
1901
1905
1907
1911
1912 sp
1913
1916
1916 sp
1918
1922
1924
1926 sp
1928
1930
1934
1936
1940
1942
1946
1948
1952
1954
1958
1960
1964
1966
1970
1972
1976
1978
1982
1984
1988
1990
1994
1996
2000
2002
2006
2008
2012
2014
2018
2020
2024
2026
U.S. House of Representatives
1820–1821
1822 sp 2nd
1823
1824–1825
1826–1827
1826 sp 5th
1827 sp 1st
1828–1830
1830
1833
1834
1836
1838
1840
1843
1844
1846
1848
1850
1852
1854
1856
1858
1860
1860 sp 5th
1862
1864
1866
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1881 sp 2nd
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1897 sp 3rd
1898
1899 sp 1st
1899 sp 2nd
1900
1901 sp 4th
1902
1904
1906
1908
1908 sp 2nd
1908 sp 4th
1910
1912
1913 sp 3rd
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1940 sp 2nd
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1951 sp 3rd
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
2026 :
State government
Gubernatorial elections
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2026
State Senate elections
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
State House elections
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
Ballot measures
People's vetoes
2009Question 1
2011Question 1
2018Question 1 (Jun)
2020Question 1
Citizen initiated referendums
2012Question 1
2014Question 1
2015Question 1
2016
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
2017
Question 1
Question 2
2018
Question 1 (Nov)
2021
Question 1
2023
Question 1
Constitutional amendments
2021
Question 3
Legislatively referred referendums
2024
Question 5 :
City of Portland
Mayoral elections
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
vte :
Election results in Maine comprise voting for local, gubernatorial and federal public offices, members of the state legislature, as well as ballot measures. Congressional elections are held every even year (2012, 2014, 2016), and gubernatorial ones every off-presidential even year (2010, 2014, 2018).
The results of the elections are often varied. Maine is seen as a swing state, with unusually high support for independent candidates. The Republican Party has won Maine in 11 out of the past 20 presidential elections, and the governorship has been won by Democrats and independents three times each, and Republicans four times, since 1974. Although today Maine is considered somewhat Democratic in presidential elections having voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992. While the governorship remains competitive, Republicans have held both houses of the state legislature simultaneously for only two years since 1974.
Maine has used the congressional district method for allocating electors in presidential elections continuously since the 1972 election. Despite this, the winner of the state won all the congressional districts until 2016, when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won all but the 2nd district, which she lost to Republican Donald Trump, who would later go on to win the election. Trump would win the district again in 2020 and 2024, despite again losing the state both times.
Maine is the first state to introduce ranked choice voting in elections, and became the first to use it in a presidential election in 2020.
In a 2020 study, Maine was ranked as the 14th easiest state for citizens to vote in.

## Voting method

Maine used the first-past-the-post voting system for all elections until 2017, when it was replaced with ranked choice voting upon enactment of the Ranked Choice Voting Act, which had previously been approved by voters in a referendum on November 8th, 2016. The system was first used on June 12, 2018, in the primaries for the 2018 United States elections, and Maine became the first state to use ranked choice voting in a federal election on November 6, 2018, when it was used in the main election itself.
Since its enactment, numerous attempts have been made to repeal the act, or delay its effects. After the act was passed in 2016, legislators voted for the suspension of the law until December 2021, thus making it inoperative until the 2022 United States elections. This was subsequently vetoed by voters, who gathered enough signatures on a petition to allow the system to be used. The state's senate took legal action to attempt to disallow the petition, but the Maine Supreme Court issued a ruling enabling ranked choice voting to be used in the 2018 election. The Maine Republican Party also attempted to block the use of the system in the 2020 United States elections via legal action, but the Maine Supreme Court dismissed the suit, allowing Maine to become the first state to use ranked choice voting in a presidential election.