AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – The race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District has now officially moved to ranked-choice voting.

The tabulation process began in Augusta on Tuesday afternoon.

“The 12,000 or so voters who didn’t pick Golden or Theriault as their first choice, who was their second choice,” asked Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

After Bellows gave the go-ahead.

“Let’s get started,” she announced.

Locked blue boxes came from a secure room, envelopes began to be torn open, ballots began to go through the tabulator machine.

After neither Austin Theriault nor Jared Golden received more than 50% of the vote, the ranked choice process begins.

About 400 voters chose declared candidate Diane Merenda of Surry as their first choice, so the second and third choices will now be tabulated.

It’s also not known how many of those 12,000 white ballots Bellows mentioned earlier have a second or third choice.

Golden finished ahead of Theriault by about 2,000 votes, according to the secretary of state.

“It allows people to choose a second preference if they are not happy with the options before them. It also allows an instant drain. In this case, where nobody got 50% plus one of the votes,” Bellows commented.

Law enforcement officers collected the ballots last week from all the municipalities in the second sector.

“We’ve had great partnerships with law enforcement, both those who work for the secretary of state’s office and the Maine State Police who take the ballots. The clerks were very participatory and we were able to get everyone here,” Bellows concluded.

Last Wednesday, Jared Golden declared victory.

Theriault requested a recount, which would follow the end of the RCV trial.

Although partial results will not be released, the secretary is sharing progress by county.

By the end of Tuesday, all ballots in Aroostook County had been counted.

They also reached out to Hancock County to get tabulated votes.

Bellows hopes to have it finished by the end of the week.

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