Election Results: Question 2 Foes Overcame Big Names, Big Bucks

MASSACHUSETTS — Despite spending less than a penny a vote, opponents of ranked-choice voting in Massachusetts defeated a campaign that spent $7.41 per vote and gained endorsements from some of the state's highest-ranking Democrats.

While it ended up being the closest statewide race in Massachusetts on Tuesday, supporters of ranked-choice voting conceded Question 2 around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. With 89 percent of precincts reporting at 10:30 a.m., "no" votes outnumbered "yes" votes by a margin of 54.9 percent to 45.1 percent.

In greater Boston, communities with a history of backing progressive Democrats supported the measure. In addition to Boston and Cambridge, voters in Arlington, Belmont, Concord, Lexington and a host of suburbs along Route 2 supported ranked-choice voting. There were also pockets of support in smaller communities on Cape Cod and in the western part of the state.

But the measure was soundly rebuffed in most of the more moderate and conservative communities on the North and South shores and in central Massachusetts.

"We used every traditional grassroots effort ... to get our facts out there and to use the truth and an honest approach to defeat a system we were confident is discriminatory, unfair and complicated," said Anthony Amore, who ran for Secretary of State in 2018 and worked with the Mass Fiscal Alliance, a conservative think tank, in leading the opposition campaign.

Mass Fiscal Alliance spokesperson Paul Craney said supporters of the "no" campaign spent just $5,000, compared to the more than $10 million spent by the Yes on 2 campaign.

Supporters pushed for the change after a series of Democratic primaries in recent years with multiple candidates and the winner receiving just a fraction of the overall vote. Supporters also argued the system would limit the impact spoiler candidates could have on a race.

But the big spending advantage and endorsements from Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, former Secretary of State and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, former Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Maura Healey, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Joe Kennedy, Katherine Clark and Seth Moulton were not enough to make Massachusetts the second state in the country to adopt a ranked-choice voting system. Maine adopted a similar system in 2016.

"We came up short in this election, and we are obviously deeply disappointed," Cara Brown McCormick, the Yes on 2 campaign manager, said early Wednesday morning. "We were attempting to do something historic in Massachusetts and fell short, but the incredible groundswell of support from volunteers and reformers that assembled behind this campaign is reason enough to stay optimistic about the future of our democracy."

Had Question 2 passed, voters would have ranked candidates in races where three or more people were running. The winner would also need a 50 percent majority. If no one received a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes would have been eliminated, and those votes would go to the candidate the voter had ranked as their next choice. The process would have continued until one candidate hit the 50 percent threshold.

Mendon Democratic Town Committee Chair Tom Merolli, who was an area captain for the Yes on 2 campaign, said the coronavirus pandemic reduced chances to show local voters how ranked-choice voting works. "Before the pandemic there were a lot more opportunities for tabling events," he said. "That hurt the success of the question."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).