An Act To Repeal the Ranked-choice Voting Law
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1625
Committee Amendment CA_C_S304 (Senate)
Amends: 21-A MRSA §1, 21-A MRSA §601, 21-A MRSA §722, 21-A MRSA §723-A

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "c" to S.P. 578, L.D. 1625, Bill, "An Act To 
Repeal the Ranked-choice Voting Law" 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting in 2019 for All State Primary 
Elections and for General Elections for the Offices of United States Senator and 
United States Representative to Congress' 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and 
inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 3, §1, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place: 
27-C. Elections determined by ranked-choice voting. "Elections determined by 
ranked-choice voting" means: 
A. 
Primary elections for the offices of United States Senator, United States 
Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative; and 
B. General and special elections for the offices of United States Senator and United 
States Representative to Congress. 
Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §601, sub-§2, 1J, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 3, §3, is 
amended to read: 
J. For offices elected elections determined by ranked-choice voting, the ballot must 
be simple and easy to understand and allow a voter to rank candidates for an office in 
order of preference. A voter may include no more than one write-in candidate among 
that voter's ranked choices for each office. 
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §722, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2017, c. 141, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
1. How tabulated. The Secretary of State shall tabulate all votes that appear by an 
election return to have been cast for each question or candidate whose name appeared on 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
"' ..... 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT"()" to S.P. 578, L.D. 1625 
the ballot. 
For offioos olootod elections determined by ranked-choice voting, the 
Secretary of State shall tabulate the votes according to the ranked-choice voting method 
described in section 723-A. The Secretary of State shall tabulate the votes that appear by 
an election return to have been cast for a declared write-in candidate based on a recount 
requested and conducted pursuant to section 737-A, subsection 2-A. 
Sec. 4. 21-A MRSA §723-A, sub-§2, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 3, §5, is amended 
to read: 
2. Procedures. Except as provided in subsections 3 and 4, the following procedures 
are used to determine the winner m of an election for an offioo olootod determined by 
ranked-choice voting. Tabulation must proceed in rounds. In each round, the number of 
votes for each continuing candidate must be counted. Each continuing ballot counts as 
one vote for its highest-ranked continuing candidate for that round. Exhausted ballots are 
not counted for any continuing candidate. The round then ends with one of the following 
potential outcomes. 
A. If there are 2 or fewer continuing candidates, the candidate with the most votes is 
declared the winner of the election. 
B. If there are more than 2 continuing candidates, the last-place candidate is defeated 
and a new round begins. 
Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §723-A, sub-§6, as enacted by IB 2015, c. 3, §5, is amended 
to read: 
6. Application. This section applies to elections held on or after January December 
1,~2019. 
Sec. 6. Secretary of State to report. The Secretary of State shall conduct an 
evaluation of implementation of ranked-choice voting for primary elections for the 
offices of United States Senator, United States Representative to Congress, Governor, 
State Senator and State Representative and general and special elections for the offices of 
United States Senator and United States Representative to Congress, including, but not 
limited to, identification of statutory conflicts between Initiated Bill 2015, chapter 3 as 
amended by this Act and relevant provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes. 
The 
evaluation must include an estimate of the costs associated with the implementation of 
ranked-choice voting. No later than January 2, 2019, the Secretary of State shall submit a 
report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over elections 
matters, including recommended legislation, for the administration of ranked-choice 
voting as described in this section. The joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over elections matters is authorized to submit legislation based on the 
report described in this section to the First Regular Session of the 129th Legislature. 
Sec. 7. Application. This Act applies to elections described in the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 21-A, section 1, subsection 27-C, paragraphs A and B held on or after 
December 1, 2019.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment replaces the bill. It amends the laws governing ranked-choice 
voting to exclude the election of Governor, State Senator and State Representative. The 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT"[) to S.P. 578, L.D. 1625 
ranked-choice voting method would still be applied to primary nomination elections for 
these offices. The amendment delays the implementation of ranked-choice voting for 
applicable offices until elections held after December 1, 2019. The amendment requires 
the Secretary of State to submit a report on the implementation of ranked-choice voting to 
the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over elections matters 
no later than January 1, 2019. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRl·:L, 
(See Attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Approved: 06/19/17 feac:.. 
LD 1625 
LR2375(03) 
An Act To Repeal the Ranked-choice Voting Law 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment '(_" 
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Potential current biennium cost savings - General Fund 
The bill excludes the election of Governor, State Senator and State House representative from being required to use 
ranked-choice voting in general and special elections, but keeps it for United States Senator and United States 
Representative to Congress. It also keeps it for for all 5 positions for primary elections. Implementation is delayed 
until elections held after December 1, 2019, so no appropriations are required in this bill. 
Additional cost to the Department of Secretary of State associated with conducting a study and reporting the results 
can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LR2375(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1