With regard to the Maine contest for the seat of incumbent Rep. Bruce Pouliquin (R-ME), the game – for now – is over:
With two courts ruling against him, the Republican will no longer dispute Jared Golden’s election, but maintains that Maine’s voter-approved system is unconstitutional and illegal.
Rep. Bruce Poliquin on Monday dropped his legal challenge to the ranked-choice election in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in which he lost his seat in the U.S. House.
In a statement he released on Twitter on Christmas Eve, the two-term Republican said he continues to believe ranked-choice voting is unconstitutional, but “it’s in the best interests of my constituents and all Maine citizens to close this confusing and unfair chapter of voting history.”
Press-Herald
The real point, beyond the termination of Rep. Pouliquin’s attempt to retain his Congressional seat, is that this is not a final determination in the battle over ranked-choice voting (RCV). Indeed, Pouliquin continues to reiterate his claim that RCV is confusing, unfair, and illegal. To the first two points, he presents no evidence but his own personal and irrelevant testimony, and two federal courts have disagreed with his third point.
This may be just the first step in a long campaign by the GOP against RCV, since “first past the pole” voting is far more to their advantage, while RCV favors the more fragmented nature of liberal politics. I expect more court challenges to RCV in the future, at least at the Federal level, and I also continue to believe this may be one of the more important court campaigns of the future.
