Maine Officials Verify Votes as LePage Leads 2nd District Race

Augusta officials verify Maine’s 2nd District votes

Election workers in Augusta are currently verifying vote totals for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District to prepare for a ranked-choice tabulation, WABI reported.

Unofficial first-round results indicate Republican Paul LePage is leading Democrat Matt Dunlap. LePage has received 49.894% of the vote, a figure that falls just short of the absolute majority required by state law.

Because no candidate reached the 50% plus one threshold, the Maine Secretary of State’s office must now begin the process of tabulating the next available choices from ballots cast for eliminated candidates. This process ensures the final certified winner holds a clear majority of the votes.

The verification process continues

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows stated that the law requires the office to “produce a result for certification that is 50% plus one of the vote at a minimum.”

Ranked choice voting starts Monday to determine winner in 2nd Congressional District

The current workload involves workers checking vote totals against those reported by individual towns, scanning physical ballots, and uploading official vote records. As of Monday evening, ballots have been counted in several counties, including Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Waldo, and Washington.

During this period of scrutiny, the state is also accounting for non-standard votes. Officials noted there were more than 6,000 blank ballots and over 100 votes cast for an official write-in candidate.

While Dunlap has conceded the race, the formal counting and certification process must still be completed. LePage holds a lead of approximately 5,400 votes.

“If the vote verification process uncovered something surprising, for example, if a municipality had misreported the results and it had a statistical impact on the race, flipping the race to Matt Dunlap, and that if that was confirmed here in the presence of all of the observers and the media, then we would certify the race for Matt Dunlap,” Bellows said.

Bellows noted that while a change in the outcome is unlikely, it remains a mathematical possibility during the verification stage.

Observers monitor the tabulation

Lauren LePage, a campaign representative and daughter of the former governor, is present to monitor the proceedings. She reported that the process appears to be moving smoothly and noted that the Secretary of State’s office has maintained communication with those in the room.

Representatives for the Dunlap campaign did not attend the tabulation proceedings on Monday morning. Dunlap’s campaign has not yet responded to requests for comment.

The state anticipates the entire process could take between four and five days to conclude. Members of the public can follow the proceedings via the Maine Secretary of State’s YouTube page.

“Yes, everything seems to be going very smoothly,” Lauren LePage said. “The Secretary of State’s office has been very communicative with everyone in the room. And so, so far everything has been as it’s expected to be.”