| HP0987 LD 1365 |
Session - 129th Maine Legislature |
LR 726 Item 1 |
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| Bill Tracking, Additional Documents | Chamber Status | ||
RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Provide for the Election of the Governor by Majority Vote
Constitutional amendment. Resolved: Two thirds of each branch of the Legislature concurring, that the following amendment to the Constitution of Maine be proposed:
Constitution, Art. V, Pt. First, §3 is amended to read:
Section 3. Election; votes to be returned to Secretary of State; Secretary of State to lay lists before the Senate and House of Representatives; provision in case of tie. The meetings for election of Governor shall be notified, held and regulated and votes shall be received, sorted, counted and declared and recorded, in the same manner as those for Senators and Representatives , except that the Governor must be elected by majority vote. Copies of lists of votes shall be sealed and returned to the secretary's office in the same manner and at the same time as those for Senators. The Secretary of State for the time being shall, on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of January then next, lay the lists returned to the secretary's office before the Senate and House of Representatives to be by them examined, together with the ballots cast if they so elect, and they shall determine the number of votes duly cast for the office of Governor, and in case of a choice by plurality majority of all of the votes returned they shall declare and publish the same. If there shall be the final result of an election is a tie between the 2 persons having the largest number of votes for Governor, the House of Representatives and the Senate meeting in joint session, and each member of said bodies having a single vote, shall elect one of said 2 the persons having so received an equal number of votes and the person so elected by the Senate and House of Representatives shall be declared the Governor.
"Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that the Governor be elected by majority vote?"
The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within the corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns. If it appears that a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of the amendment, the Governor shall proclaim that fact without delay and the amendment becomes part of the Constitution of Maine on the date of the proclamation.
Secretary of State shall prepare ballots. Resolved: That the Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this resolution necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.
SUMMARY
This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to require that the Governor be elected by majority vote.