Candidates Michael Brennan, Ethan Strimling, Nicholas Mavodones and Jed Rathband, as well as a re-energized public contingent, highlight the scene in the State of Maine Room at City Hall here with results in the historic mayoral race due at 8 p.m.
Brennan enters the day with the most first choice votes, as counted on Election Day, while Strimling and Mavodones came in second and third. We’ll know very soon if either Strimling or Mavodones got enough second choice votes, as redistributed from lower ranked candidates using the instant runoff process, to jump into the winner position.
A room that has been quiet the vast majority of the day has come alive, with cameras flashing and tension building.
I won’t go back over it here, but I’ve filed many blog posts today about what it’s taken to get us here. It’s been a slog for some of us who have been in the building since 7:30 or 8 a.m. today. Hours of watching elections officials load yellow ballots into scanners, hours of waiting for the computers to process those ballots, and more hours watching reviewers check the ballot scans to ensure the software is reading the vote marks properly.