![\"California](\"\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/images.foxnews.com\/content\/fox-news\/politics\/2017\/10\/20\/maine-struggles-to-launch-first-statewide-ranked-choice-voting-system\/_jcr_content\/par\/featured_image\/media-0.img.jpg\/931\/524\/1508530921676.jpg?ve=1tl=1text=big-top-image\")
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\n California voters are seen casting ballots in the November 2016 election. California is one of the states where local jurisdictions use ‘ranked-choice voting,’ something Maine is struggling to implement statewide. <\/p>\n
\u00a0(Reuters)<\/p>\n
A chaotic process is underway in Maine as officials try to figure out whether to implement a ballot decision that would drastically change the way voters choose candidates for public office.<\/p>\n
Voters approved the change by 52 percent<\/a>\u00a0last November, calling for a \u2018ranked-choice voting\u2019 system for most state and federal elections.<\/p>\n Maine would become the first state in the nation to implement the system, which works like this:<\/p>\n It\u2019s complicated — and also could be legally problematic.<\/p>\n In May, the Maine State Superior Judicial Court<\/a> issued an advisory opinion saying that ranked choice voting would violate the state constitution, which requires electoral winners to be decided by a \u201cplurality.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe object must always be to \u2018ascertain the will of the people,’\u201d the court wrote. \u201cNonetheless, when a statute \u2013 including one enacted by citizen initiative \u2013 conflicts with a constitutional provision, the constitution prevails.\u201d<\/p>\n However, this violation would only apply to state-level elections, not federal ones; the law involves voting for both. The court said the state could vote to repeal the law or work on introducing a constitutional amendment to allow for it.<\/p>\n Because the court\u2019s ruling was just an advisory, it does not stop the law from going into effect. The state legislature has tried — and failed — on three separate occasions to figure out what to do with the law ahead of the June 2018 primary elections, with supporters of ranked-choice voting calling for a constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n \u201cOur legislators were elected last November on the same ballot as ranked-choice voting,\u201d Kyle Bailey, a spokesman for the Committee on Ranked Choice Voting, told the Portland Press Herald<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year. \u201cThey have a duty and a privilege, a responsibility to carry out the will of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday<\/a>, the state\u2019s Legislature\u2019s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee held a public hearing on a bill to implement the parts of the law that did not violate the constitution while delaying others. But lawmakers reportedly failed<\/a> to reach a consensus on the bill, which opponents said would cause mass confusion if voters elected federal officials one way, and state officials another way.<\/p>\n Instead, committee lawmakers gave recommendations that the state legislature is expected to consider during a special session beginning Oct. 23.<\/p>\n If no decision is reached by June, ranked-choice voting will be implemented for the 2018 primary and general elections. However, any state election results based off this system could be subject to a constitutional challenge in court.<\/p>\n\n