AO 2024 12: Maine’s ranked choice voting process for Senate is a single election

A single contributionlimit applies to the entire ranked-choice voting process in Maine's 2024 U.S. Senate election, because the entire process, including all rounds of vote tallying, constitutes a single general election under the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act).

Background

Maine will use ranked-choice voting (RCV) for its 2024 U.S. Senate general election. Voters cast ballots on which they "rank candidates in order of preference," with vote counting proceeding in sequential rounds. After polls close on Election Day, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, then the RCV count is conducted by rounds under the supervision of the Secretary of State. During each round, the last-place candidate is defeated, and the candidate with the most votes in the final round is elected.

Because four candidates have qualified to appear on the ballot in Maine's 2024 general election for U.S. Senate, there will be a maximum of three rounds of vote tallying. The requestor asks if each potential round of vote tallying would be a separate election with a separate contribution limit, enabling him to contribute up to $9,900 ($3,300 per round) to the Republican nominee.

Analysis

Individual rounds of vote tallying in the RCV process for Maine's 2024 U.S. Senate election do not qualify as separate elections under the Act. The entire ranked-choice voting process constitutes a single election, subject to a $3,300 individual contribution limit. Although Maine's RCV system will tabulate votes over the course of several rounds, the election will be held on a single date: Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Under the Act and Commission regulations, this is a general election. The Commission is not aware of any date after November 5 on which voters will be able to cast ballots for U.S. Senate candidates in Maine's 2024 election. Thus, the Commission concludes that the individual rounds of vote tallying in Maine's ranked-choice voting system qualify collectively as a single election under the Act and Commission regulations.

Date issued: September 19, 2024; Length: 7 pages

Citations

Regulations

11 CFR 100.2
Election

11 CFR 110.1
Contributions by persons other than multicandidate political committees

Statutes

52 U.S.C. 30101
Definitions

Resources

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