Election results in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

comprise voting for

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

and federal public offices, members of the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, as well as

ballot measures A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

. Congressional elections are held every even year (2012, 2014, 2016), and gubernatorial ones every off-presidential even year (2010, 2014, 2018). The results of the elections are often varied. Maine is seen as a

swing state In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often refe ...

, with unusually high support for independent candidates. The Republican Party has won Maine in 11 out of the past 20 presidential elections, and the governorship has been won by Democrats and independents three times each, and Republicans four times, since 1974. Although today Maine is considered somewhat Democratic in presidential elections having voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992. While the governorship remains competitive, Republicans have held both houses of the state legislature simultaneously for only two years since 1974. Maine has used the

congressional district method In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

for allocating electors in

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

continuously since the 1972 election. Despite this, the winner of the state won all the congressional districts until

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, when Democratic nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

won all but the 2nd district, which she lost to Republican

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, who would later go on to win the election. Trump would win the district again in 2020 and 2024, despite again losing the state both times. Maine is the first state to introduce ranked choice voting in elections, and became the first to use it in a presidential election in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. In a 2020 study, Maine was ranked as the 14th easiest state for citizens to vote in.

Voting method

Maine used the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

voting system for all elections until 2017, when it was replaced with ranked choice voting upon enactment of the Ranked Choice Voting Act, which had previously been approved by voters in a referendum on November 8th, 2016. The system was first used on June 12, 2018, in the primaries for the

2018 United States elections Elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2018. These midterm elections occurred during incumbent Republican president Donald Trump's first term. Although the Republican Party increased its majority in the Senate, Democratic incu ...

, and Maine became the first state to use ranked choice voting in a federal election on November 6, 2018, when it was used in the main election itself. Since its enactment, numerous attempts have been made to repeal the act, or delay its effects. After the act was passed in 2016, legislators voted for the suspension of the law until December 2021, thus making it inoperative until the

2022 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2022, with the exception of absentee balloting. During this U.S. midterm election, which occurred during the term of president Joe Biden, all 435 seats in ...

. This was subsequently vetoed by voters, who gathered enough signatures on a petition to allow the system to be used. The state's senate took legal action to attempt to disallow the petition, but the

Maine Supreme Court The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. Between 1820 and 1839, justices served lifetime ...

issued a ruling enabling ranked choice voting to be used in the 2018 election. The Maine Republican Party also attempted to block the use of the system in the

2020 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice presidents of the United States, vice president Joe Biden, defeated incu ...

via legal action, but the Maine Supreme Court dismissed the suit, allowing Maine to become the first state to use ranked choice voting in a

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

References

External links

Elections & Voting division
of the

Maine Secretary of State The secretary of state of Maine is a constitutional officer in the U.S. state of Maine and serves as the head of the Maine Department of State. The Secretary of State performs duties of both a legislative branch as well as an executive branch o ...

* * * * (State affiliate of the U.S.

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

) * . (Also
1995 & 19961997 & 19981999 & 20002001 & 20022003 & 2004

2005 & 20062007 & 20082009 & 20102011 & 20122013 & 20142015 & 20162017 & 2018
. *

Digital Public Library of America The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a US project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings in order to create a large-scale public digital library. It officially launched on April 18, 2013, after two-and-a-half years of dev ...

. Assorted materials related t
Maine elections
* *
An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting in 2021
*
An Act To Clarify Ranked-choice Voting Laws
*
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Elections
{{Maine Government of Maine Political events in Maine

Voting method

See also

References

External links