After a recount error caused the wrong candidate to be temporarily seated in the Maine Senate, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap is pledging a full review of his office’s approach to election recounts. But Dunlap said Wednesday he’s pleased that the system in place for disputed elections ultimately yielded the right conclusion, despite weeks of controversy surrounding Senate District 25’s election, which stoked fears about election fraud. “It’s mortifying as all get out that there was an error at the recount, but the process worked itself out,” Dunlap said in an interview. “It also finally answers the question about who makes the decision about who gets seated: The voters do.”
… Lawmakers from both parties and election officials were relieved to learn there was no evidence of election fraud, ballot stuffing or other sinister acts, but questions remained about whether more could be done to prevent similarly impactful mistakes from happening in the future.
But the two leaders of the special Senate committee that spearheaded the investigation both said it was unclear exactly what could have been done to prevent the mistake — if anything at all. Both pointed out that hundreds of elections have been conducted in the state without a similar error having ever been discovered.