A ranked-choice election in Maine: Using voting data to understand preferences

Evan Rosenman writes: The implosion of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine has upended a marquee Senate race, leaving the state Democratic party just a few weeks to choose a substitute nominee. A planned nominating convention on July 25th has drawn considerable candidate interest. But the mathematical properties of ranked choice voting add a strange wrinkle to these deliberations. The Maine Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Three of the top contenders to replace Platner are former gubernatorial candidates: Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Troy Jackson, former Maine State Senate president; and Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state. All three ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor, losing the primary to Hannah Pingree, former speaker of the Maine State House. June’s primary results are given below. (Data from Wikipedia.) Maine uses ranked choice voting (RCV) in primaries and federal elections, so voters could rank up…