The website of Voter Choice Massachusetts, a nonprofit that advocated for an electoral system in which voters rank their options rather than choose a single candidate, declares that national interest in the push “has increased twenty-fold over the last 12 months alone.”

It’s not hard to see why. This election cycle, Maine became the first state in the nation to embrace ranked-choice voting for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives races. Editorial boards at publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post publicly endorsed the system. Here in Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District, a 10-way Democratic primary brought new interest in a way to decide crowded elections.

Uncertainty continues to loom large. A federal judge is weighing whether to deem Maine’s system unconstitutional after second-choice votes swung an election, and past failures in Massachusetts have not been forgotten. But with new legislators coming on board, Voter Choice leaders are hopeful the time is right for change.

“With passage of this in Maine, it’s really been a sea change,” said Nathan Lockwood, central region volunteer lead for Voter Choice Massachusetts. “Before 2016, ranked choice was a topic for election nerds. And now it’s really a topic for the mainstream.”

Different voting systems such as the one Voter Choice proposes have some history in Massachusetts. Since 1941, Cambridge has used rankings on its ballot for municipal offices, although that city uses a more specific proportional algorithm. Advocates say the process has helped ensure better representation of minority communities.

Lowell had ranked-choice voting in the 1940s, but the system soon returned to a more common plurality style. In 2009, a ballot question seeking to implement vote ranking failed in the city.

In recent years, though, supporters have grown more optimistic about their chances. Voter Choice Massachusetts grew from “three to five” regular volunteers in 2016 to more than 100 today, Lockwood said, largely drawing momentum from successful implementation in Maine.

The 3rd Congressional District’s Democratic primary this cycle, which saw 10 Democrats on the ballot — all of whom endorsed Voter Choice’s efforts, Lockwood said — also drew new attention. Lori Trahan won that race by only 145 votes after a recount, securing less than 22 percent of the vote.

“When you use the plurality system, our current system, you can get a candidate who wins with far less than a majority,” Lockwood said. “That candidate might be strongly opposed by voters who didn’t vote for the candidate and you don’t know because you didn’t get that information from the voters.”

New faces in the Legislature could join longtime supporters, such as state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, to make a push. Four newly elected state senators and eight new state representatives all backed Voter Choice during their campaigns, Lockwood said, offering an “encouraging” picture.

Among those soon-to-be-freshman legislators is state Rep.-elect Tami Gouveia, D-Acton, who has been intrigued by ranked-choice voting since she learned about it more than two decades ago. She said she believes the system could help improve not just the electoral process, but the act of political campaigning itself.

“With the vitriol we have and the division we have in our elections right now and the political discourse all across the country, having ranked-choice voting will address some of that,” Gouveia said. “As a candidate, you’re really trying to appeal to all voters in that particular election. You’re not only trying to appeal to what your base might be because you’re hoping you might be someone’s second or third choice even if you’re not their first choice.”

However, there are some doubts hanging over the movement. Maine’s new system already decided an election, as second-place votes put Democratic candidate Jared Golden ahead of Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in the four-way race for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. In response, Poliquin has filed a lawsuit — and requested a recount — challenging the legality of the system.

A federal judge is expected to rule on that case next week. Lockwood said it would be a “setback” for Massachusetts if that case went against the ranked-choice system, but that he is hopeful that will not be the outcome.

In the meantime, supporters will continue to spread their message and focus on education.

“With this being something that is new for many people, I think we need a little bit of time to help people understand what it is and what it means,” Gouveia said. “But I’m confident that it is something we’ll see in Massachusetts in some time.”

Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisLisinski.