On Wednesday, I wrote about how Maine Democrats were about to screw voters (and themselves) by repealing Ranked Choice Voting—a common sense reform approved by 52 percent of voters last fall.

But all is not lost even if state House Democrats betray voters: There is still the “people’s veto.”

The people’s veto is a power granted to Maine voters in the state Constitution that allows them to overturn “acts, bills, resolves or resolutions, or part or parts thereof” passed by the legislature. All Mainers need to do is collect signatures totaling 10 percent of the turnout for the last gubernatorial election, within 90 days of the legislature calling a recess. (The Maine legislature is part-time and is set to recess for the year on June 26.) If enough signatures are gathered, a question will appear on the ballot at the next available statewide election asking voters whether they wish to overturn the legislative act in question.

So, here’s the lay of the land for Ranked Choice Voting right now:

Currently, Ranked Choice Voting is law in Maine.

The state Supreme Court issued a nonbinding ruling stating that part of the law was unconstitutional—namely, that it couldn’t be used for general elections for state office—and told lawmakers they ought to do something about it. Importantly, Ranked Choice Voting is still permissible for primaries and for all federal elections.

The legislature has several possible courses of action at this point—it could pass a constitutional amendment, it could amend or repeal the parts of the bill deemed unconstitutional, or it could repeal the full law.

Full repeal of the law is the most heavy-handed possible response to the court ruling, and would be a thumb in the eye to the 52 percent of Mainers who voted for Ranked Choice Voting last year—so, of course, that is the course of action the legislature is most likely to take right now. (Insert angry grumbling here.)

And here’s where the People’s Veto comes in:

If the legislature votes to repeal the law in full, advocates can start gathering signatures at the start of the next week’s recess. Again, they have 90 days to get the signatures they need.

At the end of 90 days, the signatures are submitted and—if an adequate number of signatures have been collected—the people’s veto is guaranteed a spot on the ballot in the next statewide election.

Crucially, once it’s confirmed that a people’s veto will be on the ballot, the legislature’s action—in this case, repeal of Ranked Choice Voting—is “frozen.” That means Ranked Choice Voting would remain the law until Mainers have a chance to vote on the People’s Veto.

Maine has a statewide election this fall, November 2017. But the secretary of state has to finalize that ballot 60 days​ prior to that election.

So, if reformers take 90 days to gather the signatures, and the November 2017 ballot will be finalized 60 days​ prior to the election, then the People’s Veto question has to appear on the June 2018 ballot—which is the very first election in which Ranked Choice Voting could be used because, remember, the People's Veto freezes the existing law in place.

That means that Mainers would have a chance to vote using Ranked Choice Voting in June of next year, when primaries for governor, state legislature, and Congress will be held. On that same ballot, they’ll also be asked whether they want to keep Ranked Choice Voting when they vote on the People’s Veto. Also, by extending the debate about Ranked Choice Voting into the June 2018 primary, it is likely to become a key issue in the primary campaign. Democratic lawmakers who vote for full repeal in the next week could find themselves fighting for their political lives against insurgent primary challenges.

Ranked Choice Voting advocates should keep pushing the legislature to do the right thing, but they should also rest assured that they have a bazooka in their pocket if they need to use it.

This could get very interesting very quickly.​