An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting for Presidential Primary and General Elections in Maine

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 316, §1, is amended to read:

27-C. Elections determined by ranked-choice voting. "Elections determined by ranked-choice voting" means any of the following elections in which 3 or more candidates have qualified to be listed on the ballot for a particular office or at least 2 such candidates plus one or more declared write-in candidates have qualified for that particular office : A. Primary elections for the offices of United States Senator, United States Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative; B. General and special elections for the offices of United States Senator and United States Representative to Congress; and D . General elections for presidential electors; and

Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, ¶E is enacted to read:

E . Primary elections for the office of President of the United States.

Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §723-A, sub-§5-B is enacted to read:

5-B . Presidential primary elections; selection of delegates. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, selection and allocation of delegates to a party's national presidential nominating convention must be in accordance with any reasonable procedures established at the state party convention.

Sec. 4. 21-A MRSA §801, sub-§2 is enacted to read:

2 . Counting of ballots. Counting of ballots for candidates for President must proceed according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A.

Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §805, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 161, §6, is amended to read:

2. Presidential electors. The presidential electors at large shall cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the largest number of votes in the State according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A . The presidential electors of each congressional district shall cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the largest number of votes in each respective congressional district according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A .

Sec. 6. Contingent effective date. Those sections of this Act that enact the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, section 1, subsection 27-C, paragraph E and Title 21-A, section 723-A, subsection 5-B take effect upon the enactment of laws adopting a presidential primary election in this State.

Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 129th Legislature, Second Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.