-How you doing? -Good.
How are you?
-Jared Golden is the Democratic candidate
in Maine's neck-and-neck race for the 2nd district.
He and his opponents have to consider something
that federal candidates haven't had to do thus
far in US history -- a new way to vote.
In 2016 and again in 2018,
Maine voters approved ranked choice voting.
It's a new voting system that supporters say
could solve political problems like minority rule,
negative campaigning, and costly recounts.
-A simple, fair, common-sense system of voting.
-Opponents say it's a partisan power grab.
-It's not fair, and it's un-Constitutional.
-In reaction to the election of the state's
controversial Republican Governor Paul LePage.
-It's not purely a reaction to our current governor
is how I would look at it.
People have a right to reform our election system.
-The way most US elections work is called plurality voting.
Voters cast a vote for a single candidate in a field.
The candidate with the most votes wins.
In ranked choice voting, instead of selecting just one candidate,
voters can choose to rank the candidates.
They mark their favorite as number one,
their second-favorite as number two, and so on.
When the votes are tallied together,
if a candidate gets 50% plus one of the vote,
that person is the immediate winner.
But if no one gets the majority,
the candidate with the least amount of votes gets eliminated,
and those votes are transferred to the voters' second choice.
If someone hits more than 50% that round,
then a winner is declared.
If not, the candidate with the lowest votes
gets eliminated again,
and those votes are applied to the voters' next choice,
and so on, until someone gets a majority.
The race for Maine's 2nd district is the kind of race
where ranked choice voting has the potential for a big impact.
Golden and his opponent, Republican Representative
Bruce Poliquin, are in a dead heat in the polls.
And there are two other independent candidates
in the race -- Will Hoar and Tiffany Bond.
-Maine has a long history of vote splits with independents.
And by all accounts of the polls,
the people who vote for me
will be determining the outcome of the race.
-Vote splitting is something that third-party candidates
can do under plurality voting, which, remember,
is the voting system that most voters are used to.
When voters have a choice between candidates
with overlapping platforms,
those candidates will both lose the election
because the voters are split between them,
allowing the other candidate to win with a plurality,
not with a majority.
You end up with minority rule.
Vote splitting has made a difference
in some big elections.
Remember the 2000 presidential election?
Green Party candidate Ralph Nader
arguably swung the election to George W.
Bush, whose electoral victory was decided
by almost 600 individual votes in Florida.
Nader had 97,488 votes in Florida.
Maine has a history of candidates
winning with a plurality but not a majority of the vote,
including Governor LePage.
But with ranked choice voting,
polarizing candidates that alienate voters,
like LePage, are at a disadvantage.
While these candidates may have a devoted base of voters
that could make up a plurality,
the candidate who wins will always be the one
preferred most by the majority of people.
That often gives a leg up to broad, centrist candidates --
something that could be seen as a drawback of the system
but also is a benefit as it can bring candidates together.
-On June 12th, you can vote for me first
and Betsy second, or -- -Or me first, and him second.
-And discourage mudslinging and contentious campaigns.
Although that isn't always the case.
-You've got a problem
with the truth. -Gentlemen.
-This is why we're getting nothing done.
-In most races, including Maine's 2018 primaries,
the plurality winners end up winning
under ranked choice, as well.
Many voters see ranked choice as an improvement
over the traditional plurality voting system,
regardless of their party.
-Ranked choice voting gives me an opportunity
to at least express my opinion.
And it also puts the major parties on notice.
-It's a great opportunity to say
I agree most logically with this person.
Though they may not have the best chance,
I can now vote my conscience
and not feel like those votes are cast aside.
-I'm actually kind of proud of Maine
because we're setting the example
for the rest of the country.
-Mainers voted to institute ranked choice
voting twice in statewide referendums
after the state legislature and the Republican Party
repeatedly attempted to stop its implementation.
-The left has decided that they cannot take
eight years of Paul LePage, so they have decided
that they're going to legislate the ballot box.
-In practice,
both the Democratic and Republican parties
have supported ranked choice voting
when it's politically expedient.
-Ballot Measure 1 will adopt a fair voting method
called instant runoff voting.
It will lead to good government
because Alaska will elect leaders
who have the support of a majority of voters.
-Representative Poliquin's campaign did not respond
to repeated requests for comment
about his thoughts on the new voting system.
Golden, however, is optimistic about the change
and its impact on his campaign.
-Tiffany Bond and Will Hoar were awesome today.
They're independents. -Yeah, absolutely.
-Bodes well for ranked choice voting.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-People would say to me, "Oh, what's your strategy
for ranked choice voting?"
I would say, "Well, it's the same strategy
I've used in every election.
I think we should always seek
to have the broadest base of support."
And there are some that think
that in the ranked choice voting system,
you should target your message to this plurality of voters
and this message to that group, and that sounds cynical.
So I just run the same campaign I would regardless.