Maine

Maine Completes Expedited Redistricting

Election Law Society · February 4, 2022 ·

By: Connor Skelly

On September 29, 2021, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed legislation creating new maps for Maine’s Congressional, State House, and State Senate districts. In Maine, the power to draw districts is given to a bipartisan apportionment commission.

The composition of this commission is mandated by the Maine Constitution to be: three members of the Maine House of Representatives from the majority party who shall be appointed by the House Speaker; three members of the House from the next largest party who shall be appointed by that party’s leader; two members of the majority party from the state Senate who shall be appointed by the President of the Senate; two members of the Senate from the next largest party who shall be appointed by their party’s Floor Leader, the chairperson of each of Maine’s two major political parties; and three members of the public.

In Maine, Fight Over Foreign Financing Has Only Just Begun

Election Law Society · December 17, 2021 ·

By: Connor Skelly

A fight over an electrical transmission line in the Great North Woods has ignited a firestorm around the ability of foreign government owned corporations to spend money on electioneering in the state of Maine, with implications that could stretch all the way back to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

LD 194 was passed by the Maine Legislature in the wake of Hydro-Quebec, a company that is solely owned by Quebec’s provincial government, spending $10 million dollars on campaigning against a referendum that would have halted the constructed of a 145-mile transmission line that would bring the company’s electricity into Maine. While entities owned by foreign governments are already prohibited by both federal and Maine law from contributing money to candidates, a loophole still exists that allows them to contribute money in Maine’s popular referendums. LD 194 was meant to close this loophole. The bill prohibited companies with 10% or more ownership by foreign governments from contributing money in any Maine election, including referendums.

Maine Supreme Court Declares Ranked Choice Voting Unconstitutional

Election Law Society · April 9, 2018 ·

By: Charles Truxillo

On May 23, 2017, the Maine Supreme Court unanimously identified portions of the State’s initiative to implement ranked choice voting (Question 5 of the 2016 initiative ballot) as conflicting with the State’s Constitution. Although the opinion offers no binding precedent as of yet, the state legislature swiftly moved to implement potential solutions to the impending constitutional concern. After following a party-line vote on October 23, 2017, the legislature’s responding bill ordered the repeal of Question 5 if the Constitution fails to be properly amended by December of 2021.

Maine’s Ranked-Choice Voting System is in Trouble

Election Law Society · March 16, 2018 ·

By: Eric Reid

In 2016, voters in Maine decided to become the first state in the nation to adopt a ranked-choice voting system for state and federal elections.

Most voting systems in the United States are what is called “First Past the Post” system or the “Winner Takes All” system. In this system, the candidate who receives the most votes or a plurality wins the election. Maine’s new system, also known as “instant runoff”, only applies in races with three or more candidates. At the ballot box, a voter would rank candidates from most-favored to least-favored according to his or her preference. If a candidate got a majority of first-placed votes, then that candidate wins. If, however, no candidate received a majority of first-placed votes, then the least-ranked candidate is dropped and the process begins again. Those voters who picked the dropped candidate would then have their votes reallocated, and the process would cycle until a candidate finally won. For example, in an election with ten candidates, a voter would rank each candidate once from one to ten. The candidate that had the most negative votes would be removed, and the votes reallocated to reflect the dropped candidate. A candidate is dropped in each cycle until a candidate finally receives a majority of votes.

Maine’s Attempt at PAC Regulation

Election Law Society · December 1, 2017 ·

By: Eric Reid

The issue of money in politics is certainly nothing new, but recent elections have shined a national spotlight on the issue of campaign finance. U.S. federal election campaigns have become increasingly expensive, and the past three presidential election cycles have seen a steep rise in spending. The 2016 election price tag was an incredible $6.8 billion, which was an $800 million increase in spending since the 2012 election. It is important to note that this figure includes money spent by both campaigns, outside groups, and independent organizations. Federal congressional races have fared no better. The 2012 presidential election was in turn a $700 million increase from the 2008 election. The special congressional election in Georgia in June saw the candidates and Super PACs spend a whopping $55 million.
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