While most eyes will be on the Trump/Clinton showdown this Tuesday night, many of us will be watching another vote just as closely.  Residents of Maine will be voting on six "ballot initiatives" (referendums), one of which would switch ALL of their state elections to ranked ballots.  The change would include their elections for U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, the governor, state senators, and state representatives.

It's fair to say that this would be the biggest step forward for electoral reform, anywhere in North America, in over a century.

The citizen-driven process began two years ago when advocates collected more than 60,000 signatures to qualify for a referendum question. Since then, FairVote Maine and the Yes on 5 campaign have been working hard to convince Maine voters to support this important change. 

The YES campaign has put together an incredibly diverse and multi-partisan list of endorsements from newspapers, business groups and leaders, democrats, republicans, womens' groups, environmental groups, unions, religious leaders and academics. 

Professor Larry Diamond writes that the Maine referendum is "the second most important vote in the U.S. this November".  I agree!  Ranked ballots increase choice, fairness, diversity and civility. A victory in Maine would be a much-needed boost for voting reform advocates across the US and Canada.

You can plug into the Yes on 5 campaign here, or on Facebook here and here.

Better yet, you can help the campaign by making phonecalls to voters - from home!  Sign up here to help make history.