Democrat Joe Biden has surged to a statewide victory in Maine, winning at least three of the state’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Biden collected a majority of first-place votes in the 1st Congressional District and in the statewide tally, good for three electoral votes. It was too early to call the winner of the 2nd Congressional District’s electoral vote.
Four years ago, Maine split its electoral votes, when Trump also was awarded one vote to Hillary Clinton’s three after he won the rural, conservative district. 2016 marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
Maine is one of only two states that divide their electoral votes. The other is Nebraska.
The race marked the first time ranked choice voting was used in a presidential contest. But the election system’s provisions — for additional voting rounds, last-place candidate eliminations and reallocations of votes to ensure a majority winner — didn’t come into play this time.
