Maine Secretary of State Bellows Says Counting May Run Past Midnight as Towns Must Hand-Count at Polling Places
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said outside the Lewiston Armory on the afternoon of November 3 that because state law requires municipalities to hand-count ballots at each polling place after voting ends, Maine's election results may not be final until after midnight. Bellows said towns must post results at the polling place and often provide them to the media; her office asked town clerks to report results directly to the state on the night of November 3, but the law does not require them to do so, and municipalities have two business days to submit official results.
Bellows added that the state would watch the count closely for major races that might need to enter ranked-choice tabulation. Maine polls closed statewide at 8 p.m. on November 3, with some towns opening earlier but all required to end voting by 8 p.m. Earlier that day, Bellows said statewide turnout was high and on pace for a midterm record; as of the night of November 2, more than 300,000 voters had voted early, about a third of the state's registered voters. The ballot's headline races included the U.S. Senate contest, in which Republican incumbent Susan Collins sought a sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president, plus an open governor's seat and two U.S. House districts.
(Source: Maine Secretary of State)
Source: Maine Secretary of State's Office
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Augusta 的缅因州议会大厦（公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: The Maine State House in Augusta (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
