Tag: maine
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Maine State Senate District 14 special election set for Mar 9, 2021
Election officials have scheduled a special election for the District 14 seat in the Maine State Senate on March 9, 2021. The seat became vacant on December 2 after the state legislature elected Shenna Bellows (D) secretary of state. There is no primary, and the filing deadline is on January 8.
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Sen. Susan Collins re-elected in Maine
Incumbent Susan Collins (R) defeated Sara Gideon (D) and five more candidates for U.S. Senate in Maine. Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996. In October, Roll Call named Collins the fourth-most vulnerable senator up for re-election. The top three on its list—Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.)—lost their…
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Jared Golden wins re-election in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
Incumbent Jared Golden (D) defeated Dale Crafts (R) and write-in candidates Daniel Fowler (D) and Timothy Hernandez (D) in the general election for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Golden was first elected in 2018, defeating incumbent Bruce Poliquin (R) 50.6% to 49.4%. The election was the first U.S. House election to be decided via ranked-choice voting…
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The two battleground House races with electoral votes at stake
In addition to electing their next representative on Nov. 3, two battleground U.S. House districts will also decide which presidential candidate gets one of their state’s Electoral College votes. While 48 states give all their electoral votes to the statewide winner of the presidential contest, Maine and Nebraska distribute some of their electoral votes to…
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Maine ballots will be printed with ranked-choice voting for president after court stays order
On September 8, Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap (D) announced that general election ballots will be printed with ranked-choice voting for president after the Maine Supreme Judicial Court stayed a lower court’s decision on a veto referendum. “Because of Federal deadlines regarding providing printed ballots to military and overseas citizens abroad, we must tell…
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Court rules that Maine GOP-backed referendum on presidential ranked-choice voting will appear on ballot
On August 24, a Maine Superior Court ruled that voters will decide a veto referendum on a law that established ranked-choice voting (RCV) for presidential primaries and general elections. Maine was slated to use RCV for the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Since the veto referendum qualified for the ballot, however, the law is…
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Maine Supreme Court: Ballot measure violates boundaries of legislative power
On August 13, 2020, the Maine Supreme Court ruled in Avangrid Networks, Inc. v. Secretary of State that a ballot referendum scheduled to appear on the November 2020 ballot was an unconstitutional violation of state separation of powers principles. The judges held that the referendum did not meet the requirements of the state constitution for inclusion…
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Maine Supreme Judicial Court rules that ballot initiative to reverse certification for transnational transmission line project is unconstitutional
On August 13, the Maine Supreme Court blocked from the ballot a citizen initiative designed to reverse a certificate required for a transnational transmission line project. The court ruled that the measure violated the “procedural prerequisites for a direct initiative” found in the Maine Constitution. According to the Supreme Judicial Court, the Maine Constitution “requires…
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Maine Supreme Judicial Court hears arguments about the role of ballot referenda in overturning state administrative agency decisions
On August 5, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in a case about whether voters may use the ballot referendum process to reverse actions taken by a state administrative agency. At issue is a ballot referendum set to appear on the November 2020 ballot that would overturn a state agency decision giving a…
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Voters decide state legislative primaries in Maine, runoffs in Texas
The statewide primary for Maine and the primary runoff for Texas took place on July 14, 2020. Candidates competed to advance to the general election scheduled for November 3. Texas’s statewide primary was held on March 3, 2020. If no candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary, the top two vote-getters advanced…