This led the Maine Legislature to vote to delay its implementation until 2021 to allow time for a Constitutional amendment to be passed to permit it.

Supporters gathered signatures to force a successful people's veto referendum on the matter in order to prevent the delay.

In the eleven Maine gubernatorial elections prior to 2016, only two candidates (incumbent governors Joe Brennan in 1982 and Angus King in 1998) won more than 50% of the vote.

She added that the manner in which the proposal addresses how a tie in the voting should be addressed, drawing lots, directly conflicted with Article V of the Maine Constitution, which states that a tie in the vote for governor would be settled by the Maine Legislature meeting in joint session to choose a winner.

[17] The law survived a legal challenge in federal court by U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin, who lost reelection by ranked choice voting to Jared Golden in 2018.

[33] On May 23, 2017, the Court issued its opinion that the law would be unconstitutional if it came before them, stating it would violate the provision of the Maine Constitution requiring elections to be decided by a plurality of the vote.

[35] The legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on June 8 reported out to the floor five bills in reaction to the ruling, including one that would implement ranked-choice voting in 2018 for uses unaffected by the Court's opinion - that is, congressional elections and primaries.

[36] On October 23, 2017, the legislature voted to delay implementation of the RCV law for all races until 2021, to allow for time to pass a state constitutional amendment to allow it.

[37] Supporters, angered by the delay, launched a people's veto signature-gathering effort to prevent it, pointing to its successful use in mixed-race ballots in Portland.