FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski
o: 626-8404/ c: 441-7638

Secretary Dunlap confirms: Congressional district tabulation will go into ranked-choice voting rounds

 

AUGUSTA – Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, Maine’s top election official, has confirmed that the tabulation of results in the Second Congressional District Republican Party Primary Election race will require the ranked-choice voting process.

With more than two candidates, this July 14, 2020 Primary Election race is subject to ranked-choice voting, which requires that the winner must win by more than 50% of the vote on Election Night, or the process moves into elimination rounds.

Based on unofficial vote tallies reported so far from the municipalities in Congressional District 2, none of the three Republican candidates seeking the party’s nomination have achieved this threshold: Dale Crafts has 44.9% of the votes; Adrienne Bennett has 32.6% and Eric Brakey has 22.6%.

The Elections staff will now proceed with the ranked-choice voting tabulation process: Ballot collection will begin Thursday throughout Congressional District 2 and the processing of the ballot materials is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 17 at the centralized tabulation site in the Burton R. Cross State Office Building, Rooms 103 A and B.

Tabulation will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will include Saturday, July 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., to continue during regular business hours until completion of the tabulation process. This is a public proceeding and press are welcome as space allows, so long as they remain within the public area and social distancing can be maintained.

Secretary of State Department staff members must log, unlock and unseal each ballot box from hand count towns to scan the ballots using a high-speed tabulator; and log, unseal and upload all the memory devices from tabulator towns and cities before loading all the votes into the results program and then certifying the results to ensure accuracy.

In addition to the Second Congressional District primary race, legislative races with more than two candidates may also go into RCV rounds based on the election results, and the ballot collection process will follow the same procedure. Municipal clerks have two days post-election to submit their results to the State Elections Division, and these legislative races will be identified by Friday.

The final, official results of the RCV tabulation(s) will be released as soon as they are available, likely by Friday, July 24. Dates are subject to change and the public will be updated during the process.

*Members of the press who are seeking images of the ballot drop-off process, beginning early Thursday evening, are advised that couriers will delivering ballots to the Cross Office Building South entrance, which faces the Cultural Building.