In “Greens are trying to unite progressives” (letter, Dec. 3), the letter writer correctly notes that “Mainers have already figured out how to free people to vote their values: ranked-choice voting.” The problem is obvious: The rest of the country still uses the old winner-by-plurality (rather than by majority) method in deciding elections. As a result, the Green Party has no chance of winning a national election. The greatest danger is that a national Green Party will only help install Donald Trump in the White House for another, even more disastrous, four years.

Republicans, who hate ranked-choice voting because it can ultimately unite their opponents, will do everything in their power to divide and conquer. That will include dirty tricks.

Elections do have consequences. We don’t have the luxury of ceding four more years of the presidency to a man who is hell-bent on destroying the environment, workers’ rights, our health and safety, and our judicial system, all while bringing us ever closer to a ruinous war with Iran. The time for wishful voting is over.

While the Green Party has certainly been an incubator for many progressive ideas, it has a very poor track record when it comes to actually winning elections. That is why I suggest they organize as “Green Democrats.” They could spread their ideas while uniting their votes to defeat all Republicans who will never share their values.

A Green candidate in Maine will ultimately face a real crisis of conscience. Will Lisa Savage endorse, and campaign for, a Green Party candidate for president? If she does, she will become part of the problem, not the solution. Ranked-choice voting won’t erase that.

John R. Merrill
Augusta