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Committee for Ranked Choice Voting

Website:

www.rcvmaine.com/
Location:

ME
Formation:

2014
Chair:

Dick Woodbury

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The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting is a political action committee (PAC) supporting ranked choice voting (RCV), a system by which votes are cast by ordering “preferences” for candidates rather than by marking a single choice, in the state of Maine. Former Maine elected officials and other Maine civic leaders run the committee. 1 When it was created in 2014, former State Sen. Dick Woodbury (I-Cumberland County) was the chair, political activist Cara Brown McCormick was the treasurer, and Kyle Bailey was the campaign manager. The Committee grew over time, adding additional employees, but these three have remained the principal decision-makers. 2

The campaign for ranked-choice voting has expanded beyond Maine following the adoption of a ranked-choice system in a 2016 referendum, most prominently to New York City.

Ranked-Choice Voting

Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is a system in which voters rank candidates by preference rather than choosing a single candidate. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, that person is the declared winner. If no candidate receives a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated, adding the second-preference votes on the eliminated candidate’s ballots to the totals of other candidates. This process continues until a candidate has a majority. 3

The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting was the principal supporter of a 2016 referendum that adopted ranked-choice voting in Maine. 4 As of 2019, only Maine had implemented RCV at the state level. Nine states had jurisdictions that had implemented RCV in some fashion, while an additional four states had jurisdictions that had adopted but not yet implemented RCV in local elections. 5 According to KTUU News in Alaska, where some groups are trying to enact RCV, supporters of RCV tend to be left leaning. 6

Maine Campaigns

Timeline

During a vote in November 2016, Maine voters approved Question 5, which adopted ranked-choice voting. In October 2017, the Maine Legislature repealed the RCV law in a special session. In February 2018, signatures were collected to place a People’s Veto on the ballot to keep the RCV law. In June 2018, Maine voters approved Question 1, which overturned the Legislature’s move, at the same time Maine became the first state to use ranked-choice voting in a statewide primary election. Then, in November 2018, Maine became the first state to use RCV in a statewide general election. In August 2019, Maine expanded RCV to include presidential primaries and general elections, sponsored by State Senator Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook). 7 The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting spokesman David Farmer praised Jackson and the Senate Democratic caucus for pushing the vote through during the special session. 8

On the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting’s website, they stated that opponents of ranked choice voting created a petition and gathered signatures for the November 2020 ballot to veto the law that adopted ranked choice voting for the presidential primaries and general elections. 9 They are urging supporters of RCV to fight the petition.

FairVote Maine

In collaboration with the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, national left-progressive election policy advocacy group FairVote created a ranked-choice voting education project known as “FairVote Maine.” FairVote received a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in 2015 for the campaign, with Kyle Bailey, the campaign manager for Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, directing and managing the FairVote Maine project on the ground. The two organizations were sharing the same office space and many staffers were splitting their time between ranked choice voting education and campaign work. In early 2016, Bailey left FairVote Maine and was replaced by Doug Clopp. Upon leaving FairVote Maine, Bailey returned to full-time status with the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting and several FairVote Maine staffers also moved over to the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. By the end of 2016, the Committee chose to cut ties with the non-profits with which it had been collaborating. 10

Lawsuit

The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting 2020 filed a lawsuit on April 16, 2020 claiming that a veto petition cannot be used on the already existing ranked choice voting law. The lawsuit also claims that the Secretary of State has allowed ranked choice voting opponents an inappropriate amount of time to collect signatures. 11

Chamberlain Project Foundation

The Chamberlain Project Foundation, incorporated in January 2017 to conduct education and research in support of ranked choice voting in Maine,12 is the charitable arm of the Committee for Ranked-Choice Voting. 13 It received funding in 2017 from the Committee for Ranked-Choice Voting. 14 It is a political reform organization established and chaired by activist Peter Ackerman to advance ranked-choice voting in Maine. Ackerman serves as the chair and Cara McCormick as the executive director of both The Chamberlain Project PAC and The Chamberlain Project Foundation. 15

Between 2015-2018, the Chamberlain Project Foundation received over $1 million from Action Now Initiative,16 a Texas based lobbying group founded by John and Laura Arnold, who also fund FairVote;17 18 over $500,000 from Level the Playing Field, a non-profit from Virginia that is supported by hedge fund tycoon Peter Ackerman;19 and $100,000 from William Ackman, a New York self-proclaimed activist investor. 20

New York Campaign

In October 2019, the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting launched an advertising campaign using actor Michael Douglas as the spokesman. In the ad, he urges New Yorkers to vote #Yeson1 on the general election ballot to support the a charter amendment to adopt ranked-choice voting in New York City. 21

Founders

Dick Woodbury served in the Maine House from 2002-2008 and in the Maine Senate from 2010-2014. He is an independent and does not support the two-party political system. He believes RCV would open the political system to different perspectives and in 2013 he sponsored a failed legislative attempt in the Senate to pass a ranked-choice system in Maine. 22

Cara Brown McCormick, a political consultant and partner at Smart Campaigns, joined the Committee as a campaign operative working for both Democrats and independents. She has ties to several efforts to advance independent candidates, including billionaire activist Peter Ackerman’s Level the Playing Field political committee and its predecessor, Americans Elect, for which Eliot Cutler, twice an unsuccessful Maine gubernatorial candidate as an independent, was a board member. McCormick is CEO of Level the Playing Field, The Chamberlain Project, and The Chamberlain Project Foundation. 23 In 1996, she directed the research efforts for then-U.S. Senators (and both future Democratic presidential candidates) John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Biden (D-DE), and in 2000 she helped Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in her first winning campaign for U.S. Senate from Washington State. McCormick also directed research efforts for the gubernatorial campaigns of Tim Kaine in Virginia and Deval Patrick in Massachusetts. 24

Kyle Bailey was hired in November 2014 as the campaign manager for the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. 25 When he joined, he had a decade of experience with progressive advocacy campaigns. Bailey was a veteran of the campaigns for state recognition of same-sex marriage, having served as Maine’s in-state finance director for the 2014 ballot initiative campaign. He has considerable experience in grassroots fundraising and campaign management. Bailey had also served as Finance Director for Eliot Cutler’s 2014 independent gubernatorial campaign. 26

Financials

The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting received grant money for its work with ranked choice voting in Maine from the Election Reformers Network. 27

In March 2020, Unite America PAC gave $145,000 to the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. 28

Between 2015-2018, Jonathan Soros, a New Yorker and son of George Soros, contributed $125,000 to the Committee. Mary and John Palmer, from California, gave $75,000. Nelson Peltz, billionaire and investor from New York, gave $50,000. 29

It received 16.8 percent of its funding from John and Mary Palmer of California, 5.6 percent from Jonathan Soros, and 24.3 percent from the Chamberlain Project. 30

As of April 2020, the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting 2020 had $23,269 in contributions, with its top donors listed as John Palmer31 and Eliot Cutler, who ran in Maine’s gubernatorial race in 2010 and 2014. 32 In 2019, the Committee had $23,782 in contributions, with the same amount in expenditures, and the top donors listed as John Palmer, Amy Woodhouse, and the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. 33 In 2018, the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting received $915,413 in contributions and had $915,410 in expenditures. It lists the highest donors as The Chamberlain Project BQC, The Chamberlain Project BQC 2018, Jonathan Soros, The Chamberlain Project PAC, and Nelson Peltz. 34

References

  1. Grantees. Election Reformers Network. Accessed April 14, 2020. https://electionreformers.org/grantees/
  2. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  3. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Ballotpedia. Accessed April 14, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
  4. Grantees. Election Reformers Network. Accessed April 14, 2020. https://electionreformers.org/grantees/
  5. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Ballotpedia. Accessed April 14, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
  6. Clark, Taylor. “Ranked-Choice Voting: What It Is, and Why Some Alaskans Say We Need It.” KTUU News. November 8, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/What-is-Ranked-Choice-Voting-564691031.html
  7. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Accessed April 16, 2020. http://www.rcvmaine.com/
  8. Conley, Julia. “Ranked-Choice Voting Advocates Call on Maine Governor to ‘Honor the Will of Voters’ and Approve System for 2020 Primary.” Common Dreams. August 27, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/27/ranked-choice-voting-advocates-call-maine-governor-honor-will-voters-and-approve
  9. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Accessed April 17, 2020. http://www.rcvmaine.com/
  10. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  11. Farmer, David. “Suit Filed to Protect Ranked-Choice Voting for President.” Press Release. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. April 16, 2020. Accessed April 21, 2020. http://www.rcvmaine.com/200416_release
  12. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  13. Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Election Reformers Network. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://electionreformers.org/grantees/committee-ranked-choice-voting/
  14. Grantees – Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Election Reformers Network. Accessed April 14, 2020. https://electionreformers.org/grantees/committee-ranked-choice-voting/
  15. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  16. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  17. Action Now Initiative. Ballotpedia. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Action_Now_Initiative
  18. Frary, John. “Ranked Choice Voting’s Persuaders.” The Ellsworth American. July 7, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/commentary/ranked-choice-votings-persuaders/
  19. Frary, John. “Ranked Choice Voting’s Persuaders.” The Ellsworth American. July 7, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/commentary/ranked-choice-votings-persuaders/
  20. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  21. Press Release. “The Committee For Ranked Choice Voting NYC Launches a Series of Ads Starring Actor Michael Douglas.” AP. October 23, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://apnews.com/72ce17b267ce9b9b4cca2d82b47afe31
  22. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  23. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  24. People – Cara McCormick. National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://nonpartisanreformers.org/people/cara-mccormick
  25. Clark, Taylor. “Ranked-Choice Voting: What It Is, and Why Some Alaskans Say We Need It.” KTUU News. November 8, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2020. https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/What-is-Ranked-Choice-Voting-564691031.html
  26. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  27. Supporting Ranked Choice Voting. Election Reformers Network. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://electionreformers.org/supporting-ranked-choice-voting/
  28. Unite America PAC, Report of Receipts and Disbursements (FEC Form 3X), April Quarterly 2020, Schedule B, A. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/351/202004159219572351/202004159219572351.pdf#navpanes=0
  29. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  30. Frary, John. “Ranked Choice Voting’s Persuaders.” The Ellsworth American. July 7, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/commentary/ranked-choice-votings-persuaders/
  31. Armstrong, Katherine. “Ranked Choice Voting in Maine.” Report Commissioned by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 17, 2020. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCV-in-Maine-final-for-web-posting.pdf
  32. Committees – The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting 2020. Maine Ethics Commission. 2019. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.mainecampaignfinance.com/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/363104
  33. Committees. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting 2020. Maine Ethics Commission. 2020. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.mainecampaignfinance.com/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/352263
  34. Committees – The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting. Maine Ethics Commission 2018. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.mainecampaignfinance.com/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/4958
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Committee for Ranked Choice Voting

ME