Ranked voting tabulation in pivotal Maine congressional race to begin Tuesday

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Election officials say a ranked-choice voting tabulation aimed at determining the winner of a key congressional race in Maine starts in the coming week. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden claims he won the election but the secretary of state said neither Golden nor Republican Austin Theriault surpassed 50% of first-place votes. That necessitated the shipment of ballots to the state capital for an additional voting round in which the lesser choices of the last-place finisher’s supporters are reallocated to establish a majority. On Tuesday, workers will begin scanning the ballots into a computer with a goal of a tabulation by week’s end.