Does Maine require physical delivery of ballot records for a ranked-choice runoff?

[](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/) _[Read all of our coverage](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/) of Maine's 2026 election or stay up to date with the latest developments through the [Maine Political Report](https://www.pressherald.com/mprnewsletter/) in your inbox or [text messages](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/01/11/maine-political-news-sent-right-to-your-phone-sign-up-for-text-alerts-from-our-editor/) from politics editor Kirby Wilson._ Yes.  Maine requires physical delivery of ballot records for a ranked-choice runoff, which can delay the results. After every election, local officials count ballots and [prepare an official return](https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/21-a/title21-Asec711.html) showing each candidate’s total. In a ranked-choice contest, those totals only show voters’ first choices. That’s enough if one candidate has a majority. Otherwise, the state must examine each ballot’s lower-ranked choices, which townwide returns don’t show. Maine then [collects ballot records](https://www.maine.gov/sos/sites/maine.gov.sos/files/content/assets/RCVTabulationExplainer.2020.pdf) from each municipality by courier. It receives sealed memory devices from towns using tabulators and paper ballots from those that count by hand. The materials are then [brought to Augusta](https://www.maine.gov/sos/sites/maine.gov.sos/files/content/assets/250c535-2018-230-complete.pdf) for a central count. The software can calculate later rounds quickly after the records arrive. The slower work is in collecting, checking and preparing ballot-level records from towns across Maine before [a winner can be determined](https://www.legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/21-A/title21-Asec723-A.html). _This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/Maine/comments/1u4m4fv/clueless_brit_why_are_the_maine_primaries_taking/ore3s7o/)._ _The Maine Trust for Local News partners with [Gigafact](https://gigafact.org/) to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our [methodology](https://gigafact.org/guidelines-principles-and-methodologies/) to learn how we check claims._ Sources * Maine Revised Statutes: [Preparation of returns](https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/21-a/title21-Asec711.html) * Maine Department of the Secretary of State: [How does the RCV tabulation process work?](https://www.maine.gov/sos/sites/maine.gov.sos/files/content/assets/RCVTabulationExplainer.2020.pdf) * Maine Department of the Secretary of State: [Rules Governing the Administration of Elections Determined by Ranked-choice Voting](https://www.maine.gov/sos/sites/maine.gov.sos/files/content/assets/250c535-2018-230-complete.pdf) * Maine Revised Statutes: [Determination of winner in election for an office elected by ranked- choice voting](https://www.legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/21-A/title21-Asec723-A.html) Copy the Story Link Tagged: [election 2026](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/)