ME-2: Poliquin Too Late?

​On Tuesday, it was learned that Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Oakland/Bangor) was filing suit in federal court in an attempt to stop the instant run-off, or Ranked Choice Voting system, that the state has employed to ensure the winning candidate draws majority support.  While Mr. Poliquin finished ahead of Democrat Jared Golden by almost 2,000 votes but only secured 46% of the total ballots cast, it is assumed that he will lose the instant run-off vote.  Therefore, the Congressman made his legal move to attempt to prevent the count from occurring while the federal court decides the constitutionality of a system that gives certain people more than one vote. 
 
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said he would begin the count unless a court order prevented him from doing so.  With no such order yet present, Mr. Dunlap announced that the count will likely finish today, thus proving a setback to Mr. Poliquin’s chances of preventing the instant run-off from changing the Election Day results.  We can expect Mr. Golden to be declared the winner by week’s end, and then a protracted court proceeding will ensue over whether the Ranked Choice Voting system is constitutional.