Maine begins ranked-choice voting tabulation process

[00:00:02][music] >> Rank choice voting tabulations are now underway in Augusta. There are at least three elections that this process will decide. The second congressional Democratic primary and both primaries for governor. In those races, no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, setting off Maine's rank choice instant runoff tabulation. Tabulating all the votes from across Maine's 487 cities and towns is expected to take a few days.

[00:00:31]Working town by town, they scan the paper ballots or upload the digital results from communities that already have a digital scanner on site. All those results are fed into a computer and the results come in. But, if you are hoping for an epic reveal, you may need to temper your expectations.

[00:00:49]>> The software is such that it it runs the numbers all in one time. It's it's like milliseconds to do that.

[00:00:57]But, I think we have a way that we can pull it in to a spreadsheet and show you each round. So, maybe it'll have a little more dramatic effect. You know, after all of this, we want to get our fun and make sure that we have some drama.

[00:01:13]>> The process is slow, methodical, and very formulaic, which is all on purpose.

[00:01:18]And if you like that sort of thing, you can visit Augusta yourself or tune in online.