The Right Wing's New Election Boogeyman

[catbyte]

It’s not her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh or her vote against impeaching President Trump that could ultimately end Susan Collins’ bid for another term.

Sam Brodey
Congressional Reporter

Published Sep. 15, 2020 4:33AM ET

For the Democrats dead-set on defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins this November, a recent poll of the Maine U.S. Senate race brought seemingly distressing news: Democratic candidate Sara Gideon was leading Collins by a single point, per the survey, but a Green Party-aligned independent candidate was polling at a surprisingly high 6 percent.

Given that Green candidates usually pull votes from the left, Collins’ legions of detractors on Resistance Twitter cried spoiler—fearing that in a tight, hotly contested race, the Green Party’s Lisa Savage would all but secure Collins another six years in the Senate.

There is only one state, however, where that straightforward reading of the poll would be backwards—a bad sign for Collins, not a good one—and it happens to be the state she calls home.

This fall, Maine is set to be the only state in the country to choose its president and members of Congress using a process called ranked choice voting. Under that system, voters are instructed to list their candidate preferences in order, effectively offering up a first choice, a second choice, and so on. Those backup picks only come into play if no candidate cracks a majority of votes on the first ballot: that sparks what is essentially an instant runoff election, in which the lowest-performing candidates drop and their supporters’ second choices receive their votes.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-right-wings-new-election-boogeyman

[House of Roberts]

1. it's a shame ranked choice wasn't available

when LePage won with less than 50%. Maine might have had a sane governor those years.

I can't see Collins getting reelected if Angus King voters will vote for Sara Gideon.