Maine’s outgoing Gov. Paul LePage (R) expressed his resentment through the bitter end.
Still bristling over his state adopting a ranked-choice election system, LePage officially certified the final results in the controversial Second Congressional District race with a note that said “stolen election.”
Maine residents voted via ballot initiative in 2016 to move the state to a ranked-choice system, which lets voters rank all candidates in a race by preference. Maine voters reaffirmed the move in another initiative last June.
Republicans in the state fought the overhaul tooth and nail in a series of court battles. LePage called the system “the most horrific thing in the world” and threatened not to certify the results of any election conducted by rank choice.
After Democrat Jared Golden beat Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R) in the ranked choice election for the seat — the first ranked choice election for a congressional race in the country — Poliquin sued to get a federal judge to either declare the incumbent the winner or call a new election. After appealing a district court decision upholding the ranked choice system, Poliquin this week announced he was ending his legal fight.
But LePage was not ready to let go just yet. On Friday he tweeted a photo of the certificate signing off on the election while noting that the results are “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,” his tweet said, while the attached photo showed that next to his signature on the certificate he called the race a “stolen election.”
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 pic.twitter.com/0fEhD1dvAb
— Paul R. LePage (@Governor_LePage) December 28, 2018
