PORTLAND, Maine (AP) New England’s last remaining Republican congressman is ending his legal battle against the election of a Democratic opponent under Maine’s new voting system.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin said Monday he still considers the new system “confusing and unfair.”
Poliquin claims he should be the winner because he had the most first-place votes on Election Day. But Democrat Jared Golden won the race once votes from two trailing independents were eliminated and reallocated.
A federal judge in Maine and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston both dealt blows to Poliquin’s requests for the courts to declare the system unconstitutional and either declare him the winner or order another election.
Maine became the first state to allow voters to rank candidates on the ballots in a congressional race.
