Maine Secretary of State: CD2 race to proceed to RCV tabulation Nov. 9

Maine Secretary of State: CD2 race to proceed to RCV tabulation Nov. 9

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Augusta, Maine – The race for Congressional District 2 will proceed to a ranked-choice voting tabulation after initial results showed no candidate captured a majority of first-choice votes. The Maine Secretary of State’s office announced the decision, citing unofficial results from the state’s 487 municipalities.

A total of 341,248 ballots were cast in the race. Paul LePage (R) received 170,263 votes (49.894%), and Matthew Dunlap (D) received 164,845 votes (48.307%). With 123 votes for declared write-in candidates and 6,017 blank votes, neither candidate surpassed the 50% threshold required to win outright.

Ranked Choice Tabulation Process

The ranked-choice voting tabulation will begin on Monday, November 9, 2026, at 10 a.m. at the Maine Department of Public Safety Headquarters in Augusta. The process is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the Secretary of State’s YouTube page.

“The first step in the process will to be to verify the vote totals from every municipality to ensure accuracy,” said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. “Once the election night totals are verified, assuming neither candidate received a majority of the votes, which is what we are observing now, we will proceed to the ranked choice voting tabulation.”

How Ranked Choice Voting Works

In races using ranked choice voting, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the first-choice votes on Election Day to win outright. If no candidate achieves this, the tabulation proceeds in rounds. The lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated in each round until only two remain. The candidate with a majority in the final round is declared the winner. More information is available on the RCV Resources webpage.

Recount Possibility

There are no mandatory recounts in Maine. Following the ranked-choice tabulation, the losing candidate may request a hand recount, which is governed by state statute. The process, plan, and any associated costs are outlined in Title 21-A, §737-A.

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