AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A ranked-choice voting tabulation aimed at determining the winner of a key congressional race in Maine will begin scanning ballots into a computer at a centralized location Tuesday, aiming to close by the end of the to have results this week, the state’s top election official said Saturday.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden already said he won the election in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, but the secretary of state said neither Golden nor Republican Austin Theriault won 50% of the first-place vote on Election Day exceeded, necessitating the mailing of ballots to the state capitol. for an additional voting round.
Under Maine’s ranked choice voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference on the ballots. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the lesser choices of last-place supporters are reallocated to determine a majority winner.
Election officials plan to begin scanning the ballots into a computer Tuesday afternoon with the goal of completing the tabulation by the end of the week, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Saturday. After ranked voting is completed, state election officials will begin a formal recount at Theriault’s request, based on the razor-thin margin.
As it stands, both candidates were just under 49%, with Golden holding a slight lead of about 2,000 votes, according to figures released by the Secretary of State.
Golden and Theriault were the only candidates on the ballot, but Diana Merenda of Surry, who filed an organized write-in candidacy, received several hundred votes. The second choices of voters who left their first choice blank will also be counted. Other registration candidates will be treated as blank.
The race is among a handful of crucial races without a declared winner, with control of the U.S. House of Representatives at stake. The slim margin came in an election in which Republican Donald Trump won the 2nd District, allowing him to collect one of Maine’s four electoral votes. Maine is one of two states where the electoral votes are divided.
