Election officials announced Thursday that a competitive Maine House race will be decided by ranked-choice voting, as Republican Paul LePage fights to defeat Democrat Matt Dunlap and flip the district red.

The pair’s tight battle to succeed retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) in Maine‘s 2nd Congressional District came to a head Tuesday, with LePage holding a narrow lead of 49.89% to 48.3% over Dunlap. While they were the only names on the ballot, 123 ballots were cast for declared write-in candidates and 6,017 blank votes, according to Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’s office.

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