AUGUSTA — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday asked pointed questions of attorneys on both sides of a debate over whether ranked choice voting can be used in state level elections.

Lawmakers asked the court earlier this year to revisit the issue, even though the high court ruled in 2017 that the Maine Constitution prohibits the use of ranked choice voting in the race for governor, state House and state Senate.

The issue is particularly important this year, with the potential for a multiple-candidate race for governor in November.

Peter Brann, an attorney representing Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), compared ranked choice voting to going to a deli. 

“I go there, and I say I’d like an egg salad sandwich, but if it’s not available, I’ll take a ham and cheese sandwich,” he said.

To which Justice Andrew Mead quickly replied: “But the deli doesn’t have constitutional rules. We’re dealing with a very consequential document here.”

Mead is the only one of the sitting justices who was on the court when the 2017 decision was handed down.

Back then, the justices “concluded that ranked-choice voting was inconsistent with the constitutional requirement that the winners of those elections must be determined by ‘a plurality of’ all votes returned,” according to briefs filed by the attorney general’s office. 

“Is this a whole new animal coming to us or is it a reboot of what happened back in 2017?” Mead asked.

Brann said the Legislature is attempting to clarify “that the ballots are the vote expressing preferences.”

Justice Catherine Connors asked what happens if someone’s first choice candidate doesn’t win in the first round of voting.

“He voted for somebody, that person got the plurality, and it doesn’t matter,” she said. 

Brann said rather than declaring a winner at that point, the candidate in first place is merely the leader.

“It’s not a plurality if the counting process is not done,” he said. “We might know who’s ahead after the first quarter of a basketball game but it doesn’t tell us … what the final score is.”

Although ranked choice voting is not currently allowed in state level general election races, Maine voters have used it in federal elections for eight years.

Throughout the Wednesday arguments, the most controversial instance of an election being decided by ranked choice voting came up repeatedly. 

In 2018, U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, had the most votes after the first round of tabulations, earning 46.3%. But once two others were eliminated from the count and their ranked votes were redistributed, Jared Golden, a Democrat, came out on top with 50.6% to Poliquin’s 49.4%.

One of the arguments supporters of switching to ranked choice voting for all elections make is that Alaska recently adopted the method.

But Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton, who represented Democratic Attorney General Aaron Frey in the proceeding, argued that decision has no merit in Maine.

“This is not a legal issue that has been widely discussed,” he said. 

Timothy Woodcock, who represented the Republican National Committee and state Republicans, said the constitution plainly states that candidates need only a plurality — not a majority — to be declared the winner.

Mead asked him whether the justices should stick to the original language of the constitution or be more flexible and adapt to the times.

“The constitution is hard to amend,” Woodcock said. “The reason it’s hard to amend is it protects the rights of minority interests.”

At the end of the hearing, Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill said the justices will make a decision in “due course.”