Legislature delays and potentially repeals ranked-choice voting
The House and Senate both vote to postpone use of the system until 2021, and repeal it if the Maine Constitution isn't amended by then to address legal concerns.
AUGUSTA — A citizen-backed law that made Maine the first state to adopt a ranked-choice voting system will be delayed and possibly repealed following a series of contentious votes Monday in a special session of the Legislature.
The Senate voted 19-10 to delay the law until December 2021 – and then repeal it if a constitutional amendment hasn’t been passed by then to address legal concerns raised by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The House held six procedural votes, then finally agreed with the Senate on a 68-63 tally. The bill now will go to Republican Gov. Paul LePage ...
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Green Party’s Jill Stein: Our Voting System is Wide Open for Hacking
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we continue with Part 2 of our conversation with Jill Stein, the former Green Party presidential candidate of 2016, of 2012 ...
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Oh, so you’re now definitively saying you were not invited to Trump Tower.
DR. JILL STEIN: No, I had no secret meetings, rendezvous. You know, I did not purchase a condo in Trump—you know, no—you know, to me, it’s just like so preposterous. We are absolutely at opposite ends politically and, you know, culturally and all the rest. I find it really interesting that there is such an effort, a consistent effort, to try to demonize me and the Green Party. And I take that as a compliment that, outside of an election season, we are being perceived as a threat, as really sort of the opposition party that the—that Democrats and Republicans are very worried about, because they know that there is a political revolt taking place right now, and there’s a movement that’s looking for a home. And the Green Party does seem to be, you know, opening its doors ...
AMY GOODMAN: How do you respond to those who say you’re a spoiler? And also, whether you have any regrets about having run?
DR. JILL STEIN: Right. So, my response is to say that—do the numbers, because Greens don’t just vote for Democrats. The numbers are very clear. Sixty-one percent of Greens would stay home if they didn’t have a Green to vote for. There were several exit polls that showed that. And conversation with Greens on the street will tell you that, as well. And of the remaining portion of Greens who would come out to vote, a substantial number of them would have voted for Donald Trump and not Democrat in the first place. So, wishing pigs fly doesn’t make them fly. You can wish that Greens had voted Democrat, but they wouldn’t vote Democrat. If you apply those numbers—and it’s something like 15 percent of my votes might have been the differential applied to Hillary Clinton—doesn’t make the difference anywhere.
Do I have regrets? You know, I always said that I would feel terrible if Donald Trump got elected, and I would feel terrible if Hillary Clinton got elected. But I feel most terrible about a political system that tried to shove two choices down our throats that people utterly rejected to, the most distrusted and disliked candidates in our history. We need a political system that can do justice to our need for, you know, an economy, a healthcare system, a climate and a world that we can survive in ...
And the bottom line here is that the solution to a compromised democracy, a democracy on life support, is not to suppress the voices of political opposition. Opposition is essential for democracy to function. And if all of the people who are bent out of shape about the “spoiled election,” instead of trying to silence political opposition, were just working to create a ranked-choice voting system in your state, that lets you rank your choices—you don’t have to worry about actually voting for who you want to vote for—the whole problem would go away. And then—you know, and then we could actually have a political system that reflects our deeply felt needs.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what you mean, ranked-choice voting system.
DR. JILL STEIN: So, it’s a voting system. The state of Maine just passed it in the last election by voter referendum. Instead of just picking one candidate for president, or it could be for mayor or governor, it lets you rank your choices. And if your first choice loses, your vote is automatically reassigned to your second choice. So that way, you know, you can vote for an independent or third-party candidate or an underdog who really reflects the way that you feel, knowing that if that candidate loses, your vote is automatically reassigned to your second choice.
So we can actually solve this problem. Right now, people are being intimidated into thinking they have to vote their fears. But the politics of fear isn’t working out so well for us. It’s basically producing everything that we were afraid of. So, you know, we can fix the voting system. And I would say, resist the temptation, you know, that tells you that you have to silence yourself, we’ve got to be good little boys and girls, you know, and just vote for the political system that is throwing us under the bus. Instead, we can change that voting system and be able to open it up and actually have real choice.
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https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/4/green_party_s_jill_stein_our
Maine gubernatorial candidates on York County casino: Vote it down
Asked about their positions, all of the 2018 contenders who responded oppose the measure, citing better ways to help the state's economy and concerns about the campaign's backers.
AUGUSTA — They may not agree on much, but the pantheon of candidates now hoping to replace Gov. Paul LePage in 2018 seem to agree that a ballot question that would give one person an exclusive chance to build Maine’s third casino is a bad idea ...
Green Party candidate Betsy Marsano of Waldo also opposes the casino, saying it has the backing of wealthy developers who have made no assurances that Maine would reap any benefits.
Betsy Marsano
She also noted that voters and the Legislature have rejected efforts by Maine’s Indian tribes to develop casinos and use the profits to protect their lands and waters.
“I would suggest prior to authorizing a new casino, driven by out-of-state developers, we consider empowering and enabling out Indigenous People to move forward with their plan,” Marsano said.
Green Party candidate Jay Dresser Lunt and Libertarian Party candidate Richard Light could not be reached for comment.
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Rep. Chapman joins Maine Green Party
Can block calls for special legislative sessions
Rep. Ralph Chapman.
by Anne Berleant
Rep. Ralph Chapman (G-Brooksville) has joined the Maine Green Party, he announced on September 20, nearly four months after unenrolling from the Democratic Party ...
“The primary reason has to do with the corporate funding,” he said. “We know the problems of corporate funding in campaigns, but what most people don’t see is that corporate funding corrupts the system inside the State House, as well…The party leadership is responding to the corporate lobbies that fund their ability to elect people of their party, and therefore purchase the loyalty of those people.”
The Green party does not accept corporate contributions, Chapman said ...
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http://weeklypacket.com/news/2017/sep/28/rep-chapman-joins-maine-green-party/#.WgeiLheQxf8
Lawmaker’s party switch gives Greens a seat in the Maine House
By Christopher Cousins, BDN Staff • September 22, 2017 1:52 pm
A Maine House of Representatives Democrat who quit the party earlier this year has announced that he has enrolled in the Maine Green Independent Party.
That makes Rep. Ralph Chapman of Brooksville the second Green Independent to serve in the Legislature’s history. The only other was former Rep. John Eder of Portland, who was elected in 2002 and served two terms before losing a re-election bid in 2006 ...
“The Maine Green Independent Party offers an alternative” because it doesn’t accept corporate donations, said Chapman, who is in his fourth term and will be prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. “In essence, the Maine Green Independent Party is demonstrating, by its actions, how to behave as though the Citizens’ United Supreme Court decision were overturned.” ...
Jon Olson of Jefferson, who co-chairs the Green Independent Party, welcomed Chapman in a written statement. He referred to the State House as a “toxic political environment.”
“We hope that other legislators of either major party will consider following his lead and that new aspiring candidates will do so as well,” said Olson ...
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