Secretary of State Dunlap at Merrill Auditorium at Noon Yesterday, Election Day.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has announced that the tabulation of the Congressional District 2 race will require the ranked-choice voting process.

Bruce Poliquin (R) the incumbent for Congress was well challenged by Jarden Golden (D) in yesterday’s election.  Because neither of the two candidates reached a 50% vote total, the ranked-choice option kicks in.

Ballot collections will begin Thursday throughout District 2 and the processing of the ballot materials is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am, Friday, November 9th in the centralized tabulation site on the Elkings Building (at the former AMHI campus,)19 Elkings Care, Augusta. Secretary of State Department staff members must log, unload and unseal each ballot box from hand count towns to scan the ballots using a high-speed tabulator and log, unseal and upload all the memory devices from tabulator towns and cities before loading all the votes into the results program and then certifhying the results to ensure accuracy.

The final, official results of the RCV tabulation will be released as soon as they are available, likely during the week of November 12.  Dates are subject to change and the public will be updated during the process.

Tabulation will begin Friday, November 9th and continue during regular business hours and will include Saturday, November 10 and the Veterans Day holiday Monday, November 12 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm until completion of the tabulating process.

This is a public process and press are welcome to observe according to a press release from Kristen S. Muszynski, Director of Communications, for the Secretary of State.