As the 2026 general election results become official and candidates are sworn in for municipal and legislative duties, several questions about the election remain.
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| Democrat Abigail Geer, left, defeated Republican incumbent Rolf Olsen to win the Maine House District 86 seat. Republican incumbent Barbara Bagshaw, right, lost to Democrat Bradley Youngs while seeking a third term representing Maine Hpuse District 106 and has requested an official recount. FILE PHOTOS |
Bagshaw has represented the district, which encompasses part of Windham, since she was first elected to the position in November 2022. She initially defeated Democrat Dana Reed by 23 votes in 2022 in a race that also featured a formal recount of ballots. In 2024, Bagshaw retained her legislative seat by defeating Democrat Doris Poland by 382 votes.
This year, however, vote tallies show Democrat Bradley Youngs, a former golf professional, restaurant manager, stay-at-home father, received 2,637 votes to Bagshaw’s 2,498, a margin of 139 votes.
In a statement on Facebook from Nov. 6, Bagshaw shared a letter she sent to the Maine Deputy Secretary of State and the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions to formally request a recount. She will be represented by attorneys Joshua Tardy and Kim Pettengill in the recount.
According to Jana Spaulding, Maine Deputy Secretary of State for Communications, a candidate, including a write-in candidate, other than the declared winner in an election may apply to the municipal clerk in writing for a recount. Written recount requests must be received by the clerk within five business days after the day of the contested election.
She said that a recount is a public proceeding open to public attendance, subject to reasonable restrictions necessary to protect recount integrity or resulting from space limitations.
During the recount, the municipal clerk maintains control over the ballots and other recount materials. No recount personnel other than the clerk may have access to the areas where ballots are stored unless accompanied by the clerk or the clerk's designee.
The municipal clerk, in this instance Windham Town Clerk Anthony Blasi, will publicly explain the recount procedure at the start of the recount and shall supervise the sorting and hand counting of the votes in public with assistance from counters appointed by the clerk. A candidate may provide counters to conduct the recount under the supervision of the municipal clerk. If an insufficient number of counters is provided, the clerk shall supply counters. Municipal officers and candidates on that election ballot may not serve as counters.
Municipal clerks and counters shall follow all applicable laws and the rules for determining voter intent adopted by the Secretary of State. If any ballots are disputed as to voter intent, the candidates may resolve the dispute by consensus in accordance with rules for determining voter intent adopted by the Secretary of State. If a consensus cannot be reached, those disputed ballots must be set aside. If the number of disputed ballots potentially affects the outcome of the recount, the municipal clerk shall forward the disputed ballots to the clerk of the nearest Superior Court in the county in which the election was held.
Upon written request, the municipal clerk shall make the incoming voting list and absentee ballot materials, along with all records required by law to be kept in connection with the election, available for inspection, unless those materials have been requested as part of a state recount.
Following the recount, the municipal clerk shall reseal the package of ballots and incoming voting list and shall note on the package the fact that the recount was held and the date of the recount.
Within 24 hours after the results of the recount are determined, the municipal clerk shall prepare, sign and issue a final recount tabulation.
Spaulding said that all recounts take place at 45 Commerce Drive in Augusta, the same location as where Ranked Choice Voting tabulation is taking place for the U.S. House race between Paul LePage and Matt Dunlap.
The recount for Maine House District 106 will be held soon as new state legislators will be sworn in on Dec. 2 with the 133rd Maine Legislature convening in Augusta on Jan. 8, 2027.
In Raymond, Democrat Abigail Geer has been declared the winner of the Maine House District 86 race for the seat representing Raymond, Casco, Frye Island, and Poland. Geer defeated Republican incumbent Rolf Olsen receiving 2,572 votes to Olsen’s 2,512.
Olsen has served in the legislature since defeating Democrat Craig Messigner by 227 votes in November 2024.
Results from the Nov. 3 election were slow to be reported for this race with Geer clinging to a 34-vote lead, 2,540 to 2,506, with 99 percent of the votes counted. The final margin of victory for Geer was by a total of 60 votes.
Geer is a community organizer and first-time legislative candidate who had previously run for Raymond Select Board in 2021.
Olsen was seeking a second term as a state legislator and previously served 29 years on the Town of Raymond Budget/Finance committee including 15 years as chair and for nine years on the Town of Raymond Select Board with three years as Select Board chair. <
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