Originally published on AsAmNews.
Nirav Shah is in a ranked-choice runoff for the Democratic nomination for governor in Maine.
With 86% of the vote counted, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention leads 26.9% – 23.2% over former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree. Former President of the Maine Senate Troy Jackson is in third with 21%. Secretary of State Shella Bellows follows with 20.7%.
Shah currently holds a 6969-vote lead.
Under Maine’s ranked choice voting system, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. When no candidate gets a majority of votes, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes are reallocated to their next pick. This process continues until one candidates gets 50% +1 of the vote.
Pingree, Jackson and Bellows campaigned together and urged voters to rank them 1,2 and 3, reports NBC. Shah came out with a video asking voters to rank him number 2 if they chose another candidate as their top choice.
The candidates hope to replace Gov. Janet Mills who must step aside due to term limits. She unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
In the Republican field, former assistant secretary of state Robert Charles leads 37.2% – 20.3% for Benjamim Midgley who describes himself as a conservative businessman. Jonathan Bush is third with 20.2%. He is a technology entrepreneur. A winner will be declared also through ranked choice voting.
Maine is the first state in the nation with ranked choice voting for both state and federal elections.
