Has hatred of President Donald Trump so distorted the judgment of American liberals that they will resort to any means to achieve ends? It looks to be the case in Maine as citizens look back on the campaign to implement ranked-choice voting — touted as a means of preventing election of another governor similar to Trump supporter Paul LePage.
First, there was the case of out-of-state money arriving. For the cause, there was an energetic write-in effort and incessant advertising on local television. Most appalling was the poor wording of the “yes” and “no” item on the ballot. I would imagine that people of all education levels (including probably some lawyers, too) needed to read the ballot question multiple times to understand the implications of their vote.
And, of course, ranked-choice voting was immediately used in two instances in the primary election, which gave it an aura of inevitability.
The means by which the change came about may not be illegal, but taken as a whole, it does not pass the smell test. To me, it feels as if something has been forced on the Maine election system from the outside.
The people of Maine are perfectly capable of establishing the rules for their own governance without such interference.
Joanne Schueth, Harrison
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