On June 12th, Maine will be the first state to vote entirely using ranked choice voting (RCV). While this voting method dates back several decades and is used in 11 municipalities of various sizes around the country, it has never been implemented at the state level.

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, the dynamics of vote counting became a major issue. Public concerns grew about when ballots would be counted, when a candidate’s victory could or would be declared, and when ballots cast by mail, as opposed to in person, would be tabulated.