LBM20
LBM20's JournalWant to make LePage and the Maine GOP leaders cry in their soup? Then vote YES ON QUESTION-1.
Sadly, LePage and the Maine GOP have turned Ranked Choice Voting (Instant Runoff Voting) into a partisan issue. It really is not a partisan issue as it was first introduced in Maine back in 2001 when no one outside Marden's knew LePage. In 2007 when Baldacci was governor five Republicans joined five Democrats to sponsor a bill to implement Ranked Choice Voting in Maine. Also, the Maine GOP uses a very similar runoff system to elect its own officers. However, it is what it is and they now think the status quo benefits them politically so they have been blocking Ranked Choice Voting and campaigning against it. They have typically been spreading a lot of lies and misinformation about this issue.
So if you want to make them cry in their soup on this and send them a strong message that we aren't putting up with them blocking ANY of our referendums, then VOTE YES ON QUESTION-1 which is the People's Veto to protect Ranked Choice Voting. ***Don't be confused by the language of the question. Just VOTE YES on it. (And if you have an absentee ballot please vote YES ON ONE.) (*** The Maine GOP has been blocking all recent referendums including Medicaid Expansion which passed with 59% of the vote just last November, and they have been attacking the referendum process in general.)
The question is asking us if we want to reject (or veto) the law passed narrowly last fall that delayed and effectively repealed Ranked Choice Voting. So YES we want to reject that delay-and-repeal law. ** Hundreds of us, including me, volunteered to stand out in the freezing cold last winter gathering signatures to get this on the ballot.
Also, please spread the word on this. If you can please write letters to the editor, send out Facebook and Twitter messages, send emails, spread it by word of mouth, etc. to VOTE YES ON ONE for the People's Veto to protect Ranked Choice Voting it is much appreciated.
There are also bumper stickers and yard signs available, and phonebanking is being done. If you would like lawn sign(s) and bumper sticker(s) and/or can help with phonebanking, even from home at your own convenience, email Field Organizer Cormac Manning at cormac@rcvmaine.com.
Maine GOP federal suit against RCV is a bullshit SCAM. Please help win YES ON ONE in June.
So now the Maine GOP thinks it is a like a single person and that its party rules can override state law. They have asked for a federal court injunction against the Secretary of State for using RCV in THEIR primary election in June now that at their convention they decided at this last minute to change their rules to insist that plurality voting be their primary system. This is such a load of SHIT on so many levels. It is a bullshit SHAM as they continue to try to attack Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). I don't think it will fly. Here is why:
First, RCV for the primaries in June is state law, period, as just affirmed by the State Supreme Court. I don't see their party rules overriding this state law, which was passed by referendum with a good many votes from Republicans as well a D's, I's, and Greens.
The Sec. of State is charged by the constitution and by statute with running elections, with the help of the local governments, and these elections are paid for with state funds. Does anyone really think the Maine GOP is going to pay for their own primary? And also, if courts say a party can have their own system as long as they pay for it, then are they going to want to design the ballot, determine how counting is done, etc. etc.? That could be next if they are going to be paying for it. Does that mean new laws, changes to the state constitution, etc.?
Next, their lawsuit says their federal civil rights under the federal constitution are being violated if they can't choose their own method of nominating their candidates. But a political party is not a person. And as long as it is a fair system that applies to everyone equally, then I don't see them having a federal rights case.
Next, federal courts have said that RCV is legal. One case comes out of San Francisco when their RCV law was challenged. Both the district and appellate federal courts said RCV was federally constitutional in that case. Granted, that was a general election and not a primary, but we do know that RCV is federally legal and is in fact used in a number of states at different levels along with traditional runoff voting methods.
If you really want to sock it to the Maine GOP and shut them the hell up, VOTE YES ON ONE IN JUNE AND TAKE FIVE FRIENDS WITH YOU. Also please help the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting with phone banks starting very soon, signs, donations, letters to the editor, etc. Winning YES ON ONE in June means sending a strong message that RCV will be law, period, and to stop messing the ALL of our referendums.
** Also, in 2007 Five Republicans co-sponsored an RCV bill. So this partisanship about RCV is just a load of sheer bullshit.
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Member since: Sun May 21, 2017, 09:17 AMNumber of posts: 1,580
