When the polls close on Election Day next week, candidates across the state will gather with supporters at watch parties and campaign headquarters to wait for results.

In some races, they could be waiting a while.

Three of Maine’s highest-profile races are expected to go to ranked-choice runoffs — a process that can take up to two weeks to yield final results, according to state officials.

That means it could be some time before Mainers know the outcomes in the Democratic and Republican primaries for governor and the Democratic primary in the 2nd Congressional District. There are also a handful of legislative and county races that could be determined using ranked-choice voting.

The system, which is only used in statewide elections in Maine and Alaska, allows for a redistribution of votes based on second choices if no candidate gets more than 50% support initially. The process continues with successive choices until a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.

Maine’s Democratic primary for governor features five candidates, while the Republican primary features seven. An eighth candidate, Jim Libby, is also on the Republican ballot, even though he dropped out of the race, since his decision came after the deadline for candidates to be removed.

The Maine Department of the Secretary of State said Libby has not formally withdrawn.

In the 2nd District, four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination. In both the 2nd District and governor’s races, there are no clear front-runners, raising the likelihood that ranked-choice will determine the outcomes.

If no candidate earns a majority in the first round of votes on Tuesday, the secretary of state’s office aims to start the lengthy ranked-choice tabulation process on June 12, with final election results by June 19.

Here’s a look at how the process works:

1. Ranked-choice runoff, or no?

Polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. Municipal officials start tallying results, which will be reported throughout the evening. In order to win a race outright, a candidate must achieve more than 50% support in the first round. If it looks like this won’t happen based on early results, the secretary of state’s office will make a determination to proceed to ranked-choice tabulation.

Towns and cities have two days to report their results to the state, but enough data typically comes in on election night for the state to know if a ranked-choice runoff will be needed, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Kate McBrien said Wednesday.

“We will be able to announce, ‘Here are the races that are going to RCV,’ and what day we’re planning to start that,” McBrien said. “If we don’t know election night, we would know the next morning, and be able to announce that.”

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democratic candidate for governor, will not be involved in any ranked-choice tabulations, to avoid a conflict of interest, McBrien said. The process will be run by McBrien and Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn.

2. Election materials are collected from municipalities and transported to Augusta.

In the event of a ranked-choice runoff, the secretary of state’s office uses law enforcement to collect election materials from municipalities. In towns and cities that use tabulator devices to count ballots, law enforcement will pick up the associated memory devices in sealed packages. In towns that count ballots by hand, they will pick up the actual ballots, which are transported to Augusta in locked metal boxes.

For a ranked-choice runoff in a statewide election, such as the governor’s race, this process can go a little slower than in a smaller race, such as the CD2 election, since materials are needed from more municipalities.

3. The tabulation process starts.

Once they arrive in Augusta, the election materials will be stored in a locked room with access limited to certain state elections staff. The tabulation is a public process — anyone can watch — but the processing area is accessible only to staff.

Staff will work regular business hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on the tabulation. The process includes unlocking the metal boxes and loading ballots into a high-speed tabulator; unsealing and uploading all memory devices; and hand-entering any ballots that the tabulator can’t process, such as ballots that are crumpled or in poor condition.

The process will be broadcast live on the secretary of state’s YouTube page, though McBrien said it is “very, very boring to watch.”

The time required to complete the tabulation can vary, but in a statewide election, it can take up to two weeks, according to the secretary of state’s office.

The ballots and memory sticks contain data from multiple races, so only one tabulation is required even if there are multiple runoffs.

4. Results are announced.

When the tabulation work is complete, all the voting data is loaded into a results program and RCV tabulation software applies the rules, per Maine law, to determine the election result. If multiple rounds of runoffs are required, they will occur all at once, with the final result generated in a matter of minutes and the final break-down by round available for review.

The secretary of state’s office will make an announcement two hours before the final steps, to alert members of the public and the media.

“The computer runs it all at once and it will automatically generate round one, round two, round three,” McBrien said. “It all comes at once.”

If there are multiple races being determined via runoffs, McBrien said the office will generate the results one at a time, with each taking 10 to 15 minutes. “We’ll say we’re running the Democratic ticket for governor,” she said. “We’ll do that, then do the Republican ticket. It’s not like there’s days in between or any extra scanning, but we have to run the formula for each.”

McBrien said her office aims to have results before June 19. Historically, the secretary of state’s office “hasn’t done a ton” of ranked-choice runoffs since the state first started utilizing the process in 2018, she said.

“The process usually takes about a week,” she said. “It can be longer. It can be shorter. It really depends.”

5. There is a recount process if results are close.

An automatic recount is triggered only if a race results in an exact tie. In a ranked-choice election, candidates who finish in the top three in the final results can also request a recount.

That process can further delay final results. In 2024, for instance, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden was not confirmed as the winner in his 2nd District race until Dec. 4 — nearly one month post-election — after a ranked-choice runoff was followed by a request for a recount from Republican challenger Austin Theriault.