Rep. Bruce Poliquin called Friday for the recount in his 2nd District to end. The Maine Republican initially requested the recount following his apparent loss to Democrat Jared Golden.
Bruce Poliquin is finally throwing in the towel. The incumbent Republican from ME-02 has abandoned his recount efforts after his loss to Democrat Jared Golden.
Maine recently adopted a ranked choice system of voting. It allows voters to list the order in which they prefer candidates rather than force them to pick just one.
Maine has elected a number of independents to statewide office in recent decades. When there are three major candidates, it’s possible under a traditional “first past the post” system to win with just 34% of the votes. With ranked choice it is less likely that voters will end up with with officials which a substantial majority of the population actively dislikes.
Ranked choice voting will continue to spread, especially if a way can be found to streamline vote counting of this more intricate system.
