Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin asked Monday for a recount in the 2nd Congressional District race he lost narrowly to Jared Golden, the Lewiston Democrat. Later in the day, Golden said, “Dragging this process out only hurts the people we were elected to serve.” Golden said in a prepared statement Poliquin is “within his rights to pay for a recount,” but is unlikely to prevail. … “Furthermore, we have become aware that the computer software and ‘black box’ voting system utilized by the secretary of state is secret,” he said. “No one is able to review the software or computer algorithm used by a computer to determine elections. This artificial intelligence is not transparent.” Dunlap scoffed at the secrecy argument. He said Poliquin’s campaign asked about the software used to count the ballots and was told the state had to keep details confidential for security purposes. “You don’t put something like that out there for hackers to use,” Dunlap said.
He said the state paid Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software, which the state has used for years, to come up with the software needed to count the paper ballots Maine relies on.
Dunlap said the tabulators in past recounts have proven 99.9 percent accurate and he expects that will happen once again with the congressional recount.
Poliquin is one of only a few losing congressional candidates in the nation who has yet to concede following an election in which Democrats made gains in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, including the ouster of 29 incumbent Republicans.
Full Article: Poliquin seeks recount in Maine’s 2nd District race – Lewiston Sun Journal.