Ranked voting will determine the winner of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Votes will have to be redistributed under Maine’s ranked choice system to determine the winner of a key congressional race, election officials said. The process was beginning Friday despite Democratic Rep. Jared Golden’s claim that he already won outright, without the need for additional tabulations.
The matchup between Golden and Republican challenger Austin Theriault in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District was one of a handful of pivotal races still without a declared winner, with control of the U.S. House of Representatives at stake.
At this point, Maine’s winner won’t be announced until next week.
Under ranked voting, if no candidate achieves a majority on the first round, the lesser choices of the last-place finisher’s supporters are reallocated to establish a majority. The second choices of any voters who left their first choice blank also will be counted. If reallocating these second choices doesn’t give one candidate at least 50% plus one vote, third choices are counted, and so on.