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2016 Op. Me. Att'y Gen. 1 (2016)

handle is hein.sag/sagme0063 and id is 1 raw text is: 2016-01 REGIONAL OFFICES 84 HARLOW ST. 2ND FLOOR F BANGOR, MAINE 04401 TEL: (207) 941-3070 FAX: (207) 941-3075 JANET T. MILLS ATTORNEY GENERAL 415 CONGRESS ST., STE. 301 PORTLAND, MAINE 04101 TEL: (207) 822-0260 FAX: (207) 822-0259 STATE OF MAINE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 14 ACCESS HIGHWAY, STE. 1 TEL: (207) 626-8800 CARIBOU, MAINE 04736 TTY USERS CALL MAINE RELAY 711 6 STATE HOUSE STATION496-3792 AUGUSTA, MAINE 04333-0006 FAX: (207) 496-3291 March 4, 2016 Hon. Michael D. Thibodeau President of the Senate 3 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333-0003 RE: Ranked-choice Voting Dear Senator Thibodeau: You asked whether L.D. 1557, An Act to Establish Ranked-choice Voting, presents any constitutional concerns with regard to the provisions of the Maine Constitution applicable to elections for Governor (Art. V, pt. 1, § 3), State Senators (Art. IV, pt. 2, §§ 3-4), and State Representatives (Art. IV, pt. 1, § 5). The bill proposes a new method of determining elections for the offices of United States Senator, Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative, and for primary elections to determine the nominees for those offices. The Maine Constitution contains no specific provisions relating to elections for Congress or the United States Senate, and primary elections are created by statute. Accordingly, we will address only those issues relating to general elections for Governor, State Senate and State Representative. I Since L.D. 1557 is a citizen-initiated bill, it must be presented to the voters at the general election next November, with or without a competing measure, unless the Legislature enacts it without change this session. Me. Const. art. IV, pt. 3, § 18, cls. 2. We have received comments from some legislators and others urging our office not to address the constitutionality of L.D. 1557 before the initiative is presented to the voters. The Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court have advised that a citizen initiative must be submitted to the voters (if not enacted by the Legislature) even if it presents constitutional issues. See Opinion of the Justices, 673 A.2d 693, 697 (Me. 1996) (Congressional term limits initiative must be sent to voters at referendum election if not enacted by Legislature notwithstanding the We do not address any federal constitutional issues here, except to note that courts in other jurisdictions have generally rejected challenges to ranked-choice voting based on equal protection and First Amendment grounds. See, e.g., Dudum v. Arntz, 640 F.3d 1088 (9 Cir. 2011) (upholding the city of San Francisco's restrictive instant runoff voting system); and Minnesota Voters Alliance v. City of Minneapolis, 766 N.W.2d 683 (Minn. 2009) (upholding city's instant runoff voting system). 1

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