Election results in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

comprise voting for

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

public offices, members of the state legislature, as well as

ballot measures A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

. Congressional elections are held every even year (2012, 2014, 2016), and gubernatorial ones every off-presidential even year (2010, 2014, 2018). The results of the elections are often varied. Maine is seen as a

swing state In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pres ...

, unusually high support for

independent candidates An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

. The Republican Party have won Maine in 11 out of the past 20 presidential elections, and the governorship has been won by Democrats and independents three times each, and Republicans four times, since 1974. Maine has used the

congressional district method The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

for allocating electors in

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

continuously since the 1972 election. Despite this, the winner of the state won all the congressional districts until 2016, when Democratic nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

won all but the 2nd district, which she lost to Republican

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, who would later go on to win the election. Maine is the first state to have introduced ranked choice voting in elections, and became the first to use it in a presidential election, in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. In a 2020 study, Maine was ranked as the 14th easiest state for citizens to vote in.

Voting method

Maine used the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

voting system for all elections until 2017, when it was replaced with ranked choice voting upon enactment of the Ranked Choice Voting Act, which had previously been approved by voters in a referendum on November 8th, 2016. The system was first used on June 12, 2018, in the primaries for the 2018 United States elections, and Maine became the first state to use ranked choice voting in a federal election on November 6, 2018, when it was used in the main election itself. Since its enactment, numerous attempts have been made to repeal the act, or delay its effects. After the act was passed in 2016, legislators voted for the suspension of the law until December 2021, thus making it inoperative until the 2022 United States elections. This was subsequently vetoed by voters, who gathered enough signatures on a petition to allow the system to be used. The state's senate took legal action to attempt to disallow the petition, but the

Maine Supreme Court The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. From 1820 until 1839, justices served lifetime a ...

issued a ruling enabling ranked choice voting to be used in the 2018 election. The Maine Republican party also attempted to block the use of the system in the 2020 United States elections via legal action, but the Maine Supreme Court dismissed the suit, allowing Maine to become the first state to use ranked choice voting in a

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

References

External links

Elections & Voting division
of the

Maine Secretary of State The secretary of state of Maine is a constitutional officer in the U.S. state of Maine and serves as the head of the Maine Department of State. The Secretary of State performs duties of both a legislative branch as well as an executive branch off ...

* * * * (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters) * . (Also
1995 & 19961997 & 19981999 & 20002001 & 20022003 & 2004

2005 & 20062007 & 20082009 & 20102011 & 20122013 & 20142015 & 20162017 & 2018
. *

Digital Public Library of America The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a US project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings in order to create a large-scale public digital library. It officially launched on April 18, 2013, after two and a half years of dev ...

. Assorted materials related t
Maine elections
* {{Maine Government of Maine Political events in Maine

Voting method

See also

References

External links