AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Maine Republicans and Democrats wrestled Tuesday with new ballots that let them rank some candidates for the first time.
The ballots asked voters to fill in ovals to rank gubernatorial candidates and a few legislative and federal hopefuls from first to last.
Maine became the first state to adopt a system called ranked-choice voting, which made its statewide debut in the primary election.
What will ranked-choice voting mean for Maine? Some of Maine’s 11 Democratic and Republican candidates hoping to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Paul LePage encouraged supporters to test the limits of the never-before-used statewide primary system.
One Republican candidate asked voters to select one first-choice candidate and leave the rest of the ballot blank. Two Democrats asked Mainers to vote for them as their first and second-place candidates.