Ranked choice voting tabulation begins in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - The next step in the ranked choice voting tabulation process got underway in Augusta on Friday.

The Secretary of State’s office hopes to have results by next Friday for the Second District Congressional Democratic Primary and the GOP and Democratic races for governor.

The Secretary of State’s office says the results will be revealed all at one time once the tabulations from both paper ballots and memory sticks are finished.

“So what we do is we actually upload and scan the entire state, everything first,” answered Chief Deputy Secretary of State Kate McBrien. “Then, we’ll actually run the tabulation software to count all of those votes, and so, none of that will happen until the very last day. Result day, we will finish any of the scanning. We’ll announce we are going to run the official tabulation within the next hour or two to give everybody time to be here and then we’ll go race by race.“

The tabulation room is open to the public with a livestream option also available if you wish to check out the process for yourself.