| Grace Bradley | WABI |
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Maine Democrats are pushing back against a proposed new policy from the Democratic National Committee that would limit how ranked choice voting is used in the 2028 presidential primaries.
In a DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) meeting in May, members proposed a new policy to formalize what the DNC says is a pre-existing practice. The rule would only count first round votes to allocate delegates rather than the over-all winner determined through ranked choice tabulation.
Time, energy, manpower, and love
Maine became the first state to expand ranked choice voting to presidential elections in 2020. Five other states have since adopted RCV in primaries, with six additional states using RCV to select convention delegates.
“We’ve put a lot of time, energy, manpower, and love into building this secure system. And for the DNC to just out of nowhere say, ‘We’re not going to listen to your voice, we’re not going to respect your form of democracy that you’ve decided, that the voters of Maine have repeatedly decided,’ I think is insulting,” said Rep. Laura Supica.