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Bruce Poliquin Moves To Block Certifying Jared Golden’s 2nd District Win

Photos by Robert F. Bukaty
/
Associated Press
Bruce Poliquin (left) and Jared Golden.

Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to stop Maine election officials from certifying Democrat Jared Golden as the winner in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race.

The request is part of Poliquin’s attempt to appeal last week’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker that denied the Republican’s constitutional claims against Maine’s ranked-choice voting law.

Walker dismantled each of those claims and also denied Poliquin’s request to invalidate Golden’s victory in the nation’s first congressional race decided by ranked-choice voting.

The appeal filed by Poliquin’s attorneys renews many of the same constitutional claims. But his request to block certification of the results may be too late, because Poliquin halted his recount of the race, which Secretary of State Matt Dunlap says means the runoff from last month stands as the official result.

Originally published Nov. 18, 2018 at 3:13 p.m. ET.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.