FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 7, 2024

Ranked-Choice Voting Tabulation Announced for Maine Congressional District 2

AUGUSTA — Based on initial results of the first choice votes in the General Election for Maine Congressional District 2, ranked-choice tabulation will be required, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced today. Additionally, State Representative Austin Theriault, the trailing candidate in initial results, has indicated he will seek a recount of the race. Any recount would follow the ranked-choice tabulation.

Both ranked-choice voting tabulations and recounts are public proceedings open to the public. The ranked choice voting tabulation will begin next week.

The tabulation will take place in Augusta. It will also be livestreamed to the Department’s YouTube page.

With two named candidates and one declared write-in candidate, this November 5, 2024 General Election race was conducted by ranked-choice voting, which requires that the winner must receive more than 50% of the vote. For more information about how ranked-choice races are tabulated, visit our RCV Resources webpage.

Second-choice votes of voters who selected write-in candidate Diane Merenda as their first choice, as well as second-choice votes from ballots which were blank on the first ranking, will be added to the first-choice votes for Congressman Jared Golden and State Representative Austin Theriault to determine which candidate achieved more than 50% of votes cast in the final round.

Under Maine law, municipalities had yesterday and today to report official results to the Secretary of State’s office.

Maine Congressional District 2 is made up of all municipalities and unorganized territories in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo and Washington Counties, and the municipalities of Augusta, Belgrade, Chelsea, Farmingdale, Fayette, Gardiner, Hallowell, Manchester, Monmouth, Mount Vernon, Oakland, Randolph, Readfield, Rome, Sidney, Vienna, Wayne and Winthrop in Kennebec County. At over 27,000 square miles, it is the largest district east of the Mississippi River.

Ballot materials will be collected by state law enforcement officers. The retrieval schedule will not be made public, for security reasons, and all questions regarding the retrieval process should be directed to the Department of the Secretary of State.

A full explanation of the process is available in the published rules for ranked choice voting here: maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/pdf/250c535-2018-230-complete.pdf.

There are no mandatory recounts in Maine election law, however in very close races – 1% or less apparent margin of victory for statewide or multi-county races – no deposit is required. A deposit from the requesting candidate is required for races with larger margins of victory, increasing as the margin gets wider, however the deposit is returned if the apparent result is overturned.

In a recount, representatives of each candidate and staff members from the Department of the Secretary of State manually review each paper ballot to determine the official vote tally.

As always, official results will be available and posted 20 days after the election as Excel files on the Election Results page.

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Update Nov. 7, 2024, 10:45 PM:

Reporters and editors,

Following up on the below with our spreadsheet of the CD2 results as officially reported to us by the municipalities.

Emily

Update Nov. 8, 2024, 8:45 PM:

Reporter and editors,

I am happy to report that all RCV (and recount) materials have been collected from the municipalities of Congressional District 2 today by law enforcement personnel from the Secretary of State’s Division of Enforcement Services and Maine State Police.

The ranked-choice tabulation will be held starting at 1 PM on Tuesday, November 12 in the Florian Room of 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta. 45 Commerce Drive also houses Maine State Police headquarters.

To find the room on Tuesday, use the main entrance towards State Police headquarters. Walk straight ahead after entering and it’s on the left before too long.

Emily

Update Nov. 15, 2024, 8:40 PM:

Reporters and editors,

At the conclusion of this week’s ranked-choice voting tabulation, Congressman Jared Golden has been found to be the winner of the Congressional District 2 General Election. The vote tally after the ranked-choice voting tabulation was:

Jared Golden: 197,151 (50.35%)
Austin Theriault: 194,445 (49.65%)

Emily

Update Nov. 21, 2024, 3:45 PM:

Reporters and editors,

The recount of the Congressional District 2 race between Congressman Jared Golden and State Representative Austin Theriault will begin December 2.

The recount will be conducted at 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta, just as the ranked-choice voting tabulation was.

Emily

Update Dec. 4, 2024, 2:30 PM:

Reporters and editors,

After the recount of all ballots from Aroostook County, the City of Bangor, and Kennebec County CD2 municipalities, as well as from much of the City of Lewiston, validated unofficial results, Austin Theriault’s campaign ended the recount of the Congressional District 2 General Election this afternoon. This confirms Congressman Jared Golden’s re-election.

Emily