AUGUSTA, Maine — A recount is set to begin Monday in Maine's 2nd Congressional District race.
The race went to a ranked-choice runoff after neither candidate surpassed 50 percent of first-place votes on Election Day, necessitating the shipment of ballots to the state capital for a ranked-choice voting tabulation.
Ten days after Election Day, incumbent Democrat Jared Golden was declared the winner with 50.35 percent of votes, totaling 197,151 votes, with Republican challenger Austin Theriault narrowly trailing behind with 49.65 percent of votes, totaling 194,445.
But even before the ranked-choice process was announced and completed, Theriault requested a formal recount.
"Every vote has a paper ballot to back it up," Theriault's campaign manager, Shawn Roderick, said. "We just want to make sure. We had so many supporters and so many donors, and the candidate himself had been on the road 13 months."
The thin margin came in an election in which Republican Donald Trump won the 2nd District, allowing him to collect one of Maine’s four electoral votes. Maine is one of two states that split electoral votes.
The recount is taking place in Augusta, just as the ranked-choice tabulation did.
The Department of the Secretary of State is livestreaming the recount on its YouTube page.
