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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting for Presidential General Elections in Maine’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 316, §1, is amended to read:
 
27-C. Elections determined by ranked-choice voting.   "Elections determined by ranked-choice voting" means any of the following elections in which 3 or more candidates have qualified to be listed on the ballot for a particular office or at least 2 such candidates plus one or more declared write-in candidates have qualified for that particular office:
 
A. Primary elections for the offices of United States Senator, United States Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative;
 
B. General and special elections for the offices of United States Senator and United States Representative to Congress; and
 
D.  General elections for presidential electors.
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §801, sub-§2  is enacted to read:
 
2.  Counting of ballots.     Counting of ballots for candidates for President must proceed according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A.
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §805, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 161, §6, is amended to read:
 
2. Presidential electors.   The presidential electors at large shall cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the largest number of votes in the State according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A. The presidential electors of each congressional district shall cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the largest number of votes in each respective congressional district according to the ranked-choice method of counting votes described in section 723-A.
Sec. 4. Statutory referendum procedure; submission at statewide election; form of question; effective date. This Act must be submitted to the legal voters of the State at a statewide election held in the month of November following passage of this Act. The municipal officers of this State shall notify the inhabitants of their respective cities, towns and plantations to meet, in the manner prescribed by law for holding a statewide election, to vote on the acceptance or rejection of this Act by voting on the following question:
 
"Do you favor conducting general elections for President of the United States by ranked-choice voting?"
 
The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within a corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns. If a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of this Act, the Governor shall proclaim the result without delay and this Act becomes effective 30 days after the date of the proclamation.
The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Act necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is one of two minority reports of the committee, strikes and replaces the bill. Under the amendment, general elections for presidential electors must be determined by ranked-choice voting if that method of conducting general elections for presidential electors is approved by the voters of the State at referendum.