TEHRAN, December 29 -Maine Gov. Paul LePage certified the results of the 2nd Congressional District in favor of Democrat Jared Golden on Friday, but protested the outcome, calling it a "stolen election."
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Maine Gov. Paul LePage certified the results of the 2nd Congressional District in favor of Democrat Jared Golden on Friday, but protested the outcome, calling it a "stolen election."
LePage's reluctance to sign the certificate -- he included the words "stolen election" next to his signature -- stems from the state's new ranked-choice voting.
In ranked-choice voting, voters rank the candidates in a race and if one doesn't win an outright majority of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who selected the least popular candidate will have their second choice counted instead, a process that repeats itself until one candidate wins a majority of votes.
Maine voters twice endorsed the ranked-choice voting method at the ballot box.
"I've signed off on the CD2 election result as it's no longer in federal court. Ranked Choice Voting didn't result in a true majority as promised -- simply a plurality measured differently. It didn't keep big money out of politics & didn't result in a more civil election #mepolitics," LePage tweeted Friday.
Golden disputed LePage's characterization of the race.
"Not only are the Governor's comments wrong, this is yet another attempt by the Maine GOP to undermine the will of Mainers, who twice voted to approve RCV. Maine people are tired of this kind of poor leadership -- which is why they voted for sweeping change in November," Golden tweeted.
Days after the election, incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, whom Golden ousted, filed a federal lawsuit to try to block the rank-choice ballots. Poliquin and three voters said ranked-choice voting is costly and confusing and raises constitutional challenges.
Source: upi
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