By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 6, 2026 – Maine’s highest court has ruled that expanding ranked choice voting to general elections for governor and state Legislature violates the state constitution, a decision that could reshape election debates far beyond the state’s borders — but possibly not in Alaska, which also has ranked-choice voting in place.
In a decision issued Monday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court concluded that Maine’s state constitution requires winners of those offices to be elected by a plurality of votes, not through a ranked-choice tabulation that redistributes ballots until one candidate reaches a majority. The ruling blocks efforts to apply ranked choice voting in general elections for governor, state Senate, and state House.
The case centered on whether ranked choice voting, already used in Maine for federal races and party primaries, could legally be extended to statewide general elections. The court found that Maine’s constitution is explicit: those offices must be decided by whoever receives the most votes, even if that total falls short of 50%.
Because ranked choice voting can produce a winner who did not lead in the first round of counting, the justices concluded the method conflicts with constitutional language requiring election by plurality.
The court noted that ranked choice voting effectively “eliminates” candidates and redistributes ballots in successive rounds until one candidate reaches a majority, a process fundamentally different from the constitutionally required single-round plurality outcome.
The decision reinforces a long-standing advisory opinion previously issued by the court, which warned lawmakers that ranked choice voting could not be used for state general elections without a constitutional amendment. Monday’s ruling gives that warning binding legal force.
Ranked choice voting will continue to be used in Maine for federal elections, including US House and Senate races, where the state constitution does not impose the same plurality requirement. But the ruling sharply limits the system’s use at the state level.
The decision is expected to reverberate nationally, particularly in Alaska, which uses ranked choice voting for statewide and federal elections. Alaska’s system differs from Maine’s structure, but critics of ranked choice voting have long argued that plurality language in state constitutions could create similar legal challenges.
Ranked-choice voting allows candidates who were not the first choice of most voters to win and complicates election administration.
With the Maine ruling now in place, any attempt to expand ranked choice voting to state general elections would require voters to amend the state constitution , a significantly higher bar than statutory changes.
The decision marks one of the most consequential court rulings on ranked choice voting since the system began expanding across the country, and it is likely to intensify ongoing legal and political fights over election systems in multiple states.
The Maine Constitution is different from the Alaska Constitution, and so this ruling may not impact Alaska. The Alaska Supreme Court looked at the Maine arguments, and came to a different conclusion.
There is an effort underway to repeal ranked-choice voting in Alaska, the second such attempt since it was approved by voters in 2020.
One thought on “Maine Supreme Court strikes down ranked-choice voting expansion for general elections as unconstitutional”
17 states so far have banned RCV. Our own RINO/democrat legislature is too busy grubbing for more tax money to hand out to the education industrial complex and the medical industrial complex to give that idea any consideration. Sad.