Attorneys for Rep. Bruce Poliquin Bruce Lee PoliquinBallot measures across US aim to overhaul voting practices Dale Crafts wins Maine GOP primary to face Rep. Jared Golden House Democrats make initial ad buys in battleground states MORE (R-Maine) are asking a federal judge to order a new election in his congressional district if Poliquin is not declared the winner of the race, which was called for his opponent through a ranked-choice balloting process.

The Bangor Daily News reported that representatives for Poliquin made the request in an amended complaint late Tuesday after the lawmaker's attorneys initially asked for a hand recount in his race against Jared Golden (D).

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U.S. District Judge Lance Walker will hold a hearing for the injunction of the ranked-choice system on Dec. 5, according to the newspaper, which added that he is required to issue a decision prior to the Dec. 14 deadline to certify results to the House.

Golden was declared the winner earlier this month, ousting Poliquin in a runoff.

Golden said in a statement responding to Poliquin’s call for a recount that the congressman was "dragging out" an election that had been decided.

"Mr. Poliquin must face facts: he lost, and Jared Golden will be seated on January 3," he said. "For the good of Maine’s people, it’s time for Bruce to move on and assist Congressman-elect Golden’s staff in an orderly transition."

Poliquin's race against Golden was the first use of ranked balloting in a congressional election. Under the system, voters rank candidates from first to last.

Neither Poliquin nor Golden won a majority of votes on Election Day. As a result, the lowest-finishing candidates were eliminated and their votes were reallocated to whoever was ranked second on those ballots.

Golden narrowly pulled ahead in the race based on the distribution of ranked-choice votes and was declared the winner on Nov. 15.

Poliquin filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the tabulation of ranked-choice ballots and arguing he should be declared the winner since he received the most first-place votes. Walker ruled against his efforts and allowed the vote count to proceed.

A spokesman for Poliquin's campaign said at the time that the representative would proceed with “constitutional concerns” about the ranked-choice system even if he had won reelection.