I was one of the tens of thousands of Mainers who voted for ranked-choice voting. I did it because I was tired of a government run by candidates who were elected without a majority of the votes cast in their respective races.

I understand how our system currently works. The person with the highest number of votes wins. In Maine, however, because of our independent streak, that seems to never amount to a majority of voters for any candidate. Ranked choice fixes that by broadening the way the vote is counted.

With that in mind I am urging my representative and senator to support implementing ranked-choice voting for the seven upcoming elections in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and all the primary elections.

Ranked-choice voting was the largest referendum vote in years and was supported 2 to 1 in Hallowell.

The Legislature can keep faith with all of those ranked-choice voters by recognizing the facts and letting voters use ranked-choice voting now in races where it is constitutionally allowed.

John Bastey

Hallowell