Bruce Poliquin Ends All Legal Action Against Ranked Choice Voting

Representative Bruce Poliquin has halted all legal proceedings against the ranked choice voting system.

In a media release on Monday, Poliquin said, although he's heard from 'hundreds and hundreds' of concerned citizens about the legality of the election process, he's decided to call an end to his bid to have ranked choice voting declared unconstitutional. He went on to say that he's done everything possible to protect the traditional voting system in which the person who received the most votes won, calling the original system 'straightforward and non-controversial.'

Despite winning by a narrow margin in the first round of voting, a ranked-choice runoff declared Poliquin's opponent, Jared Golden, the winner in the 2nd Congressional District. Poliquin calls the process a black box computer algorithm, but has been unsuccessful getting the Maine District Court and 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to declare it unconstitutional. Rather than drag out the process into the new year, Poliquin has decided to drop all legal proceedings and concede the race.

In the media release, he wished Congressman-elect Golden well during his coming term. In response, Jared Golden released a statement thanking Representative Poliquin for his many years of service to the state of Maine.