Maine’s 2nd Congressional District faces potential recount
The race for the House seat in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District will go to ranked-choice voting tabulation, the secretary of state's office announced Thursday. There will also be a potential recount, at the request of one of the candidates.
Incumbent Democrat Rep. Jared Golden was leading with 50.9% of the vote as of around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, while his Republican opponent, Rep. Austin Theriault, followed with 49% of the vote. Less than 7,000 votes separated the two.
Maine uses ranked-choice voting in its federal races, so voters indicate their first, second and third choices, and so on. A candidate wins outright if they get over 50% of the vote initially.
If the race goes to ranked choice voting tabulation, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the votes from people who voted for that candidate are applied to their second choice. This continues until only two candidates are left; the leading candidate then wins.
Separately, Theriault's campaign announced Thursday plans to request a recount. According to the secretary of state's office, the recount would also use RCV tabulation.
-ABC News' Emily Chang and Oren Oppenheim