| Elections in Maine |
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Election results in Maine comprise voting for local, gubernatorial and federal public offices, members of the state legislature, as well as ballot measures. Congressional elections are held every even year (2012, 2014, 2016), and gubernatorial ones every off-presidential even year (2010, 2014, 2018).
The results of the elections are often varied. Maine is seen as a swing state, with unusually high support for independent candidates. The Republican Party has won Maine in 11 out of the past 20 presidential elections, and the governorship has been won by Democrats and independents three times each, and Republicans four times, since 1974.[1][2] Although today Maine is considered somewhat Democratic in presidential elections having voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992. While the governorship remains competitive, Republicans have held both houses of the state legislature simultaneously for only two years since 1974.
Maine has used the congressional district method for allocating electors in presidential elections continuously since the 1972 election.[3] Despite this, the winner of the state won all the congressional districts until 2016, when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won all but the 2nd district, which she lost to Republican Donald Trump, who would later go on to win the election.[4][5] Trump would win the district again in 2020, despite again losing the state, as well as the election.
Maine is the first state to introduce ranked choice voting in elections, and became the first to use it in a presidential election in 2020.[6][7]
In a 2020 study, Maine was ranked as the 14th easiest state for citizens to vote in.[8]
- ^ "Maine Presidential Election Voting History". 270toWin.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Split Electoral Votes in Maine and Nebraska". 270toWin.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Split Electoral Votes in Maine and Nebraska". 270toWin.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Maine Election Results 2016". The New York Times. 2017-08-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ FairVote.org. "Timeline of RCV in Maine". FairVote. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "An Act To Implement Ranked-choice Voting for Presidential Primary and General Elections in Maine". Maine.gov. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
- ^ J. Pomante II, Michael; Li, Quan (15 Dec 2020). "Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 19 (4): 503–509. doi:10.1089/elj.2020.0666. S2CID 225139517. Retrieved 14 January 2022.