Maine’s Second Congressional District is headed for a recount that could last weeks after incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden emerged as the winner following a controversial Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) tabulation.
After Election Day, Golden held a slim lead over Republican challenger State Rep. Austin Theriault of roughly 2,000 votes.
However, under Maine’s RCV rules, candidates for certain offices are required to receive more than 50 percent of the “first choices” in the ranked ballot system.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) determined that, due to a large number of “blank” first-choice selections and the presence of a declared write-in candidate, Maine’s RCV process would have to be triggered, as Golden had technically received less than 50 percent of the vote.
Over the past two weeks, Mainers have waited as Bellows live-streamed the RCV tabulation, which reached a predictable conclusion: Golden was still the winner.
After the blank first-choice votes were run through the RCV process, which would either convert their second choices into first choices or discard the vote altogether if no choice had been made at all, Golden’s lead crept above the 50 percent threshold.
“[T]onight’s result reaffirms what we have known for more than a week: The people have chosen me to continue as their representative for another term in Congress,” Golden said in a statement posted to X.
“State Rep. Austin Theriault is within his rights to force a third accounting of ballots with a taxpayer-funded recount, but the votes have been counted twice now and my lead has been in the thousands of votes both times,” said Golden.
Theriault’s spokesperson confirmed in a statement to the media that the Republican would continue to press for a recount given the close margin in the race.
“With the race for Maine’s Second Congressional District remaining the closest federal race in modern Maine history following the allocation of ranked choice votes, we are renewing our call for a state-funded automatic recount of the results,” Theriault campaign manager Shawn Roderick said.
Sources close to the campaign indicate that the recount could take more than three weeks to complete.
We need to get rid of ranked choice voting .