PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2025
Contact: Jacob Posik
Director of Legislative Affairs
Office: 207.321.2550

Maine Policy Urges Gov. Janet Mills to Veto LD 1666
The bill is, in the governor’s own words as attorney general, unconstitutional, and its passage would invite litigation and sow distrust and confusion in the November 2026 election results.

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine Policy Institute today published an open letter to Gov. Janet Mills urging her to veto LD 1666, “An Act to Include in the Ranked-choice Election Method for General and Special Elections the Offices of Governor, State Senator and State Representative and to Make Other Related Changes.”

This bill, and the application of ranked-choice voting (RCV) to state-level general elections for the offices of State Representative, State Senator and Governor, is unconstitutional according to Gov. Janet Mills’ own words in 2017 advisory and reply briefs to Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court when she served as Maine’s Attorney General (AG).

In 2017, then-AG Mills wrote that RCV is a “fundamentally different voting methodology” to Maine’s plurality voting system. She also said that RCV “violates the plain meaning of the relevant Constitutional provisions and ignores their history.” Finally, she added, “Whatever the policy arguments for ranked-choice voting, they simply do not resolve the legal issues presented.”

Proponents of LD 1666 relied heavily on an Alaska Supreme Court ruling that has no legal, precedential value in Maine. The Alaska court’s ruling cannot undo the Governor or the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s previous findings on the unconstitutionality of RCV in its use in general elections for state offices. 

The passage of LD 1666 invites litigation into any November 2026 general election race for State Representative, State Senator, or Governor determined by RCV. The end result will be electoral chaos, sowing greater distrust among the public in our election system.

“Gov. Mills own words are as applicable today as they were in 2017. Ranked-choice voting violates the plain meaning of the plurality requirement in the Maine Constitution. The Legislature can’t simply redefine words in statute to skirt this reality or the constitutional history.

“Today, we call on Gov. Mills to veto LD 1666. The bill is, in her own words, unconstitutional, and she knows it.”

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Maine Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to expand individual liberty and economic freedom in Maine. Learn more about our work at www.mainepolicy.org.