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Initiative Petition Seeks Ranked-Choice Voting In Massachusetts

A polling place in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, on primary election day in March 2016.
Dave Roback
/
The Republican / masslive.com/photos

A proposed ballot question calls for a ranked-choice voting method in future state elections and primaries in Massachusetts. 

Supporters filed the measure in advance of Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline for submitting initiative petitions with the state attorney general's office.

Under a ranked-choice system, voters can place candidates in numerical order of preference, from their No. 1 choice down to their least favorite.

The system allows for multiple tabulations when no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes.

The proposal faces a number of hurdles before it could reach the ballot in November 2020. If voters were to approve of it, the ranked-choice system would take effect in the 2022 elections.

Maine became the first U.S. state to use ranked-choice voting in primary elections last year.

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