PORTLAND, Maine (MSI) — Maine began counting ranked choice ballots on Friday to determine nominees for its open governor’s office and a pivotal race for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Results are expected sometime next week, the secretary of state’s office said.
Maine and Alaska use ranked choice voting for some statewide elections. Voters in ranked choice elections are allowed to rank the candidates on their ballot in order of preference.
Under that scenario, if no candidate breaks 50% of the popular vote, the bottom finisher is eliminated, and voters’ second choices come into play. The tabulations continue until a candidate achieves a majority of the total votes.
No candidates exceeded 50% in Tuesday’s Republican and Democratic primaries for governor or the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District. The Maine Secretary of State Department said Friday that the counting of the ballots would begin that afternoon and would be open to the public and available on the secretary of state’s YouTube page.
As MSI previously reported in May, ranked choice voting in Maine remains in a hybrid status: the system is used for federal primaries and general elections but is subject to ongoing constitutional questions at the state level. MSI previously reported that the system’s application to state-level races remains legally unsettled.