Why Complete Election Results in Maine Could Take More Than a Week

Main primary results for Maine’s governor races and a Democratic congressional seat may not be known for more than a week due to ranked-choice voting. Winners in both Republican and Democratic governor contests remain undecided, and the Democratic primary for Congress also remains unsettled. If no candidate surpasses 50 percent, Maine proceeds with ranked-choice tabulation, which eliminates last-place finishers in successive rounds. About 80 percent of ballots had been counted by Wednesday morning, with 487 municipalities sending paper ballots and memory sticks to Augusta for processing. Officials expect the full tabulation before Juneteenth, a tight timetable given California’s slower mail-ballot counts and local spending variations.