November 8, 2018

Maine's 2nd Congressional District Still Up For Grabs, Will Go to Ranked-Choice Voting

Source: Maine Public Radio

One of the most closely watched races in the country is still being watched. That's because Maine's 2nd Congressional District is still up for grabs between incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin, who is seeking a third term, and Democrat Jared Golden of Lewiston.

By early Wednesday morning it appeared the contest, which also features two independents, will be decided by Maine's new, first-in-the-nation instant runoff system for congressional races known as ranked-choice voting. Late Wednesday afternoon, Maine's Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap confirmed that determining the results in the race will require the runoff.

Dunlap says that's because none of the four candidates in the race won at least 50 percent of the vote, though both Republican Bruce Poliquin and Democrat Jared Golden came close, each garnering about 46 percent.

Dunlap says ballots in the 2nd District will be collected Thursday, and officials will begin processing them Friday in Augusta, beginning at 9 a.m.

Read more: http://www.mainepublic.org/post/maine-s-2nd-congressional-district-still-grabs-will-go-ranked-choice-voting#stream/0

---

Looks like we're going to see how well ranked-choice voting really works. The 2nd District is the same one that voted for Trump in 2016.