Final recount confirms incumbent won Maine House District 44 race
Description
View from the speaker's dais of the chamber of the House of Representatives in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
The final recount for Maine’s legislative races wrapped up Tuesday.
The hand recount conducted in Augusta confirmed that incumbent Bill Pluecker, an independent, won another term representing House District 44.
“So, the Legislature can all get sworn in tomorrow,” said Emily Cook, director of communications for the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, on a YouTube livestream documenting the tally.
The recount was requested by Republican Ray Thombs, who trailed Pluecker by 361 votes — or more than 7% — after the initial count on election night. Since the margin of victory from the original count was greater than 1%, Thombs had to pay a $2,500 deposit to conduct the recount, as per state law.
After the recount, Pluecker ended with 2,730 votes and Thombs ended with 2,370 votes.
The department conducted nine legislative recounts for the Nov. 5 election. Other than a tie that ended up having a one-vote margin of victory, all of the recounts confirmed the election night counts, Cook said.
Augusta, ME