By MAYA SWEEDLER and DAVID SHARP
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An uncommon system of voting could be central to which party controls the U.S. House this fall — or even the presidency.
In Maine and Alaska, voters in competitive congressional districts will elect a winner using ranked choice voting.
Rather than cast a single vote for their preferred candidate, voters rank their choices in order of preference on the ballot. If a candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters in the first round of counting, that candidate is the winner.
But if no candidate surpasses 50%, the count continues in round two. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes redistributed to their next choice. This continues with the candidate with the fewest votes getting eliminated until someone emerges with a majority of votes.
Ranked choice voting has become more popular in recent years, particularly at the municipal level.
Voters in two dozen cities and counties — from New York and Minneapolis to Boulder, Colorado — used ranked choice voting in 2023, according to FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the expansion of ranked choice voting. Seven other cities voted in favor of preserving, adopting or expanding ranked choice voting.
Proponents of ranked choice voting argue the system encourages candidates to build broader coalitions, eliminates the spoiler effect and discourages negative campaigning. Opponents say it’s confusing and can result in a candidate without the largest number of first-choice votes ultimately prevailing.
Because they take place over multiple rounds that are tabulated only once all first-choice votes are counted, elections in Alaska and Maine that advance to ranked choice are often resolved a week or more after Election Day.
Maine
Maine adopted ranked voting in elections in 2016 in a statewide referendum. It is used in all statewide primaries with more than two…
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