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An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting for Presidential Primary and General Elections in Maine
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 316, §1, is amended to read: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; and
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §1, sub-§27-C, ¶E  is enacted to read:
 
E.  Primary elections for the office of President of the United States.
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §723-A, sub-§5-B  is enacted to read:
 
5-B.  Presidential primary elections; selection of delegates.     Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, selection and allocation of delegates to a party's national presidential nominating convention must be in accordance with any reasonable procedures established at the state party convention.
Sec. 4.  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. 5. 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. 6. Contingent effective date. Those sections of this Act that enact the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, section 1, subsection 27-C, paragraph E and Title 21-A, section 723-A, subsection 5-B take effect upon the enactment of laws adopting a presidential primary election in this State.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 129th Legislature, Second Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.