Maine's 2nd District ranked-choice vote tally begins

[jpak]

Source: Portland Press Herald

AUGUSTA — Election officials began the painstaking task Friday of processing hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District as they prepare for the nation’s first ranked-choice voting tabulation to decide a federal race.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin heads into the weekend with a narrow lead of roughly 2,000 votes over Democratic challenger Jared Golden, according to several unofficial estimates. But political insiders, an exit poll and even bettors suggest Poliquin’s lead could evaporate as the second and third choices of voters are added to the tallies of the two frontrunners during the ranked-choice tabulation process.
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If Poliquin, of Oakland, tops 50 percent of the vote in the second round of counting expected to take place next week, he will begin a third term in Congress.

If Golden reaches that magic number, however, he would be the first member of Congress in history to win under a ranked-choice voting system.

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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/11/09/maines-2nd-district-ranked-choice-vote-tally-begins/

[elmac]

1. hmmm

[David__77]

2. The Democrat should win this.

I’m glad ranked choice voting was instituted.

[paleotn]

3. Win should go to Golden...

since both 3 and 4 are not a conservatives. Ranked choice is a wise choice for Maine. Avoids another Lepage debacle.

[SKKY]

4. Do they use tabulating machines in Maine?

It seems to me this should be automatic. Well, not automatic in a poorly designed system, but automatic nonetheless.

[jpak]

8. Only 40% of the ballots can be used by high speed tabulators - it's mostly a hand count

n/t

[SKKY]

10. Ahhhh. Ok. Thanks for the clarification.

N/T

[iluvtennis]

5. Found this on how it works:

Ranked choice voting gives you the power to rank candidates from your favorite to your least favorite.

On Election Night, all the ballots are counted for voters’ first choices. If one candidate receives an outright majority, he or she wins.

If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest first choices is eliminated and voters who liked that candidate the best
have their ballots instantly counted for their second choice.

This process repeats and last-place candidates lose until one candidate reaches a majority and wins. Your vote counts for your second choice only if your first choice has been eliminated.

http://www.rcvmaine.com/how_does_ranked_choice_voting_work

[Takket]

6. i wish all elections worked this way.........

it supports 3rd/4th parties since voting for them is not wasting your vote, while also making sure that a a person actually has a majority of the votes, even if it is someone's second choice.

Hillary would have won.

[iluvtennis]

7. I agree, my first impression is I like it.

[modrepub]

9. Be careful what you ask for

There is no recount if candidate wins 50% + 1 vote to begin with. If I understand this correctly you resort all last place votes first. If the Green Party has more votes than the Libertarian or Constitition party then either of those parties get sorted first. So a more conservative candidate’s voters could get sorted first giving a Republican enough votes before the Green Party gets sorted. All I see is someone adding lots of small parties to ensure a conservative of liberal candidate gets their sorted votes first

[LBM20]

11. Adding parties probably would never happen. Many states and localities have some sort of runoff

voting system, and this has not happened.