FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT: Doug Clopp, Director of Outreach at 207-318-2378 or dclopp@fairvote.org

Portland, ME  — An exit survey in Portland (ME) conducted by the nonpartisan civic organization FairVote demonstrated that city voters overwhelmingly support Portland’s use of ranked choice voting in mayoral elections, find it easy to use, and are increasing the power of their vote by ranking candidates. The city today held its second mayoral election with ranked choice voting, with incumbent mayor Michael Brennan facing two challengers.

FairVote surveyed Portland voters at City Hall during absentee voting on Thursday, October 29 and at the Reiche School, in Portland's West End on Election Day. As of 8pm on Election Day, a total of 254 voters have been surveyed. The results to-date reveal that voters have a strong understanding of ranked choice voting (RCV) and strongly support it in Portland:

• Easy to use. More than nine in ten voters said it was “easy,”  with 72% indicating it was “very easy”.

• Voters ranked the candidates. 84% of voters ranked at least two candidates.

• Support for RCV in Portland. 91% of voters with an opinion of ranked choice voting support it in Portland, including 73% of all respondents.

Below are the initial results from the survey on three key questions:

How difficult or easy did you find the concept of ranking candidates?

In the election for mayor, did you:

Do you support or oppose using RCV for Portland mayoral elections? 

Would you like to see RCV used in state elections in Maine?

Complete data, including responses to all 16 survey questions, will be posted to FairVote’s website on November 4th.

FairVote is a nonpartisan, national electoral reform and research organization based in Takoma Park, MD.  It assists with implementation of innovative voting systems such  as ranked choice voting and conducted a similar survey in 2011 in Portland.