128th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1646		LR 2379(04)
	An Act To Bring Maine's Ranked-choice Voting Law into Constitutional Compliance
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
Unbudgeted savings on delay - General Fund Unbudgeted savings on delay - Highway Fund
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	Costs related to ranked-choice voting were estimated in the fiscal note for LD 1557 of the 127th Legislature, which was introduced as Initiated Bill 2 in response to a successful citizen initiated petition drive. As LD 1557 was indefinitely postponed, there was no opportunity to put funding for the Secretary of State (SOS) or the Department of Public Safety (DPS) into that bill. Subsequent approval by the voters in November of 2016 meant any funding would have to wait for implementing legislation. Delaying implementation of ranked-choice voting until elections held after December 1, 2019 will eliminate any funding that would have been required by the SOS and the DPS in the current biennium. As no funding has ever been budgeted, no savings will be booked on delay.
	Additional costs to the Department of Secretary of State associated with conducting an evaluation and recommending legislation for the administration of ranked-choice voting can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. Any appropriations and allocations associated with implementing ranked-choice voting would need to be included within that subsequent legislation.