Brewer Quoted in MPBN Report on Push to Change ‘Constitutional Officer’ Election Process
Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, spoke with the Maine Public Broadcasting Network for a report about how Maine is the only state in the nation where constitutional officers — state attorney general, treasurer and secretary of state — are elected by the Legislature. More than two-thirds of the states choose secretaries of state and attorneys general through a popular vote, while others leave the selection to the governor, according to the report. Some in the Legislature, including Gov. Paul LePage, hope to change the election process, the report states. “If this is going to happen, there’s probably no better time for this to happen than right now in Maine politics,” Brewer said of changing the process, adding voter sentiment is probably on LePage’s side when it comes to popularly electing officers.