Exit polling gives Golden an edge in 2nd District ranked-choice count. See each candidate's road to

[jpak]

Exit polling gives Golden an edge in 2nd District ranked-choice count. See each candidate’s road to victory.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Assistant Maine House Majority Leader Jared Golden is favored to beat U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in a ranked-choice voting count that could decide the tight race in the 2nd Congressional District, according to exit polling conducted by the Bangor Daily News.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting to the BDN, Poliquin, a two-term Republican, had 46.2 percent of votes to 45.7 percent for Golden, a Democrat. Because no candidate earned a majority of the first round vote, the election is moving to a ranked-choice count that Secretary of State Matt Dunlap’s office has begun today in Augusta.

It means the spotlight is now on the 8 percent of voters who picked a nonpartisan candidate as their first choice in the 2nd District race. Their later-round choices between Golden and Poliquin likely will decide the election when Dunlap’s office finishes the count next week.

Though Poliquin has a lead now, that crucial group of independent voters leans heavily toward Golden, according to an exit poll of 534 voters in eight 2nd District municipalities on Election Day administered by the BDN during the first statewide ranked-choice voting election in U.S. history. The poll was funded and analyzed by FairVote, an electoral reform group that supports ranked-choice voting and done in consultation with Colby College.

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Go Jared!

[spooky3]

1. Man. Things just keep getting bluer! Nt

[oasis]

2. Democrat's chances look golden in 2nd Dist.

[manor321]

3. This ranked choice stuff is going to get challenged in court

And not just because it might be a Republican who was initially ahead would lose.

IMHO, this manner of election should not spread further until it survives legal challenge.

[LuvLoogie]

4. I agree with you. It opens up state legislatures to assign ranked electoral college distribution.

I think this was proposed in PA. Instead of winner take all. the electoral votes get distributed by legislative district won. In highly gerrymandered states like the swing states under GOP legislative domination, the majority vote for a Democrat would never get a chance again. They would never apply it in Texas, but they would in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, etc.

[LBM20]

6. That is a whole different question. Not the same as elections for office. No worry warting.

Ranked Choice Voting is NOT about proportional voting for the electoral college. And they already have Ranked Choice Voting in a number of states at the local level and have for many years, as well as many other forms of runoff voting for various offices and elections in both red and blue states.

If they had wanted to do proportional electoral voting, they could have already tried to do that regardless of Ranked Choice Voting. You are mixing apples with oranges.

[LBM20]

5. It has already been UPHELD in SEVERAL court cases both federal and state. No worries. It is just a

runoff voting system. There are MANY such systems all over the country including red states.

[LBM20]

7. Just ONE of the court cases upholding Ranked Choice Instant Runoff Voting here:

SEE HERE:

https://www.fairvote.org/major-legal-victory-for-ranked-choice-voting-and-reform

[phylny]

8. No idea where, what parties, in the subject line. n/t

[jpak]

9. Maine's reddish 2nd Congressional District

Jared Golden D

Vile Bathroom Bruce Poloquin - R