AUGUSTA – State election officials plan to run the ranked-choice voting tabulations at noon to decide the winner of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race.

The Secretary of State’s Office finished scanning the remaining ballots Thursday morning and plans to run the results through the ranked-choice voting software at noon. That means voters should know who won the 2nd District race – incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin or Democrat Jared Golden – shortly thereafter, unless a federal judge intervenes before then.

Poliquin and three other plaintiffs have asked U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker to halt the tabulations until he can consider their broader lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting. Walker said Wednesday that he would try to rule by today on Poliquin’s request to stop the process.

Poliquin holds a narrow, roughly 2,000-vote lead over Democratic challenger Jared Golden in the four-way race. But Poliquin did not receive a clear majority of votes needed to win outright, thereby pushing the tabulation to voters’ second- – or perhaps third- – choice candidates until one of the front-runners crests the 50 percent threshold.

This is the first congressional race in the nation to be decided using the ranked-choice voting process.

This story will be updated.