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King Says He's Supporting Ranked-Choice Voting Referendum

Jacquelyn Martin
/
Associated Press
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, speaks about immigration and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Maine independent U.S. Sen. Angus King says he will vote to keep ranked-choice voting in next week’s referendum vote.

“A high number of voters said this is something they want," King says, "and I don’t like the idea that we essentially voided what the voters said.”

King says he was reluctant to publicly comment on the ranked-choice voting referendum because some will say he is doing so to benefit his re-election campaign.

King says the process amounts to an instant run off.  "And many states have runoffs but this is a way of doing it without all the time, trouble and money of having a separate election.”

King says he also likes the idea of making sure that an elected official has the support of a majority of voters.

He acknowledges, though, that if ranked-choice voting had been constitutional in 1994, he might not have been elected Maine's governor back then.  King served two terms in the post, from 1995 to 2003.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.