ME-GOV: Exit polling, data point to Democratic primary win for Janet Mills

BANGOR, Maine — Maine’s tight Democratic gubernatorial primary may pull closer after ranked-choice tallying, but Attorney General Janet Mills is favored to win, according to Bangor Daily News simulations that combined unofficial returns with exit polling data.

On Tuesday, Maine became the first state in U.S. history to decide elections by ranked-choice voting, a method that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-round votes is eliminated and their second-place votes are reallocated to others. This is repeated until someone wins a majority.

But the method — which was approved by voters in 2016 and upheld by voters on Tuesday — has only left the outcome of one of four races in doubt. That’s the seven-way race for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Shawn Moody and two independents in the November race to replace the term-limited Gov. Paul LePage.

In that primary, Mills had just under 40,600 first-round votes — or 33.1 percent — with attorney Adam Cote in second place with just over 34,800 — or 28.4 percent — with 88 percent of Maine precincts reporting unofficial results to the BDN as of Friday afternoon.

Those two were followed by lobbyist Betsy Sweet at 16.3 percent of first-round votes, former Maine House Speaker Mark Eves at 14.5 percent, state Sen. Mark Dion at 4.5 percent, former state Rep. Diane Russell at 2.3 percent and former Biddeford Mayor Donna Dion at 1.3 percent.


https://bangordailynews.com/2018/06/15/politics/exit-polling-data-point-to-democratic-primary-win-for-janet-mills/