Long recount could leave Maine's 2nd District seat vacant when Congress begins new term

Source: Portland Press Herald

The recount that began Thursday in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race could leave the seat vacant and the district without representation when Congress convenes in January.
...

Workers from the Maine Secretary of State’s Office gathered in a converted conference room Thursday and started the arduous task of hand-counting the 300,000 ballots cast in the election, which saw Democratic challenger Jared Golden beat incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin by about 3,500 votes.

Poliquin asked for the recount on Nov. 26 after Golden was declared the winner. Poliquin also has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the ranked-choice voting system

...

Pelosi, the California Democrat who is expected to be elected speaker of the House by the incoming Democratic majority, indicated that Golden would be seated by Congress. Even though Golden has vowed he wouldn’t vote for Pelosi to become speaker again, she seemed to defend his election Thursday during a news conference in Washington.

Pelosi also reiterated that under the U.S. Constitution, the House of Representatives ultimately decides who is seated in the body, indicating that with Democrats in the majority, Golden would be seated.

“The House still retains the right to decide who is seated,” Pelosi said. She also specifically mentioned Republicans challenging the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting in Maine.

“They have ranked voting, which has been voted on twice by the people in Maine, as their method of having an election,” Pelosi said. “Now (the Republicans) have a question on the constitutionality of ranked voting, in their view.”

Pelosi mentioned Maine as she took questions about other election controversies, in North Carolina and Florida.

“If they (Republicans) had won, of course, there would be no question about the constitutionality of it,” she said.

Golden’s campaign spokesman, Jon Breed, said Golden should be seated Jan. 3 and that the congressman-elect was continuing to prepare for that, including attending a conference for new members of Congress at Harvard University in Boston on Thursday.

“Attempts by the Poliquin campaign to delay Jared from taking his seat do nothing more than hurt the people of the 2nd District,” Breed said. “No one expects Poliquin to prevail in his recount, and rather than trying to delay, he should do the right thing for the people of the 2nd District and facilitate a smooth transfer between his office and Jared’s.”

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/12/06/recount-casts-doubt-on-whether-golden-will-be-sworn-into-congress-on-jan-3/