Democrat wins late under Maine’s new vote system

AUGUSTA, Maine — A Democrat who trailed a Republican incumbent in a costly U.S. House race came from behind to emerge as the victor Thursday following extra rounds of tabulations under Maine’s new voting system, which faces a legal challenge.

Election officials declared Jared Golden the winner, flipping the seat held by two-term Rep. Bruce Poliquin, after a federal judge de- clined to halt tabulations in the state’s ranked-choice voting system.

The outcome was a dramatic reversal under the ranked-choice voting system that was used for the first time in U.S. House and Senate races. The system lets voters rank candidates. If no one gets a majority, last-place candidates are eliminated, and their second-place votes are reallocated.

Poliquin and Golden both collected 46 percent of first-place votes, with Poliquin maintaining an edge of about 2,000 votes. Additional tabulations were triggered because no one collected a majority.

On Thursday, Golden overtook Poliquin after election officials eliminated two independent candidates who trailed. A computer algorithm reallocated the second-place votes, giving Golden a lead of nearly 3,000 votes.

Poliquin said he isn’t abandoning a federal lawsuit in which he seeks to have the voting system declared unconstitutional.