How close was a Maine electoral vote split in 1976?

[JRP1994]

I don't have access to the CD-level info on the site. But Ford only won Maine by 0.8%. How close was an electoral vote split?

[Kevinstat]

Pretty darn close, with the northern second district actually being better for the Democrat (which isn't that surprising when you consider the candidates and the types of people they appealed to).  Ford won what was then ME-02 (the current ME-02 minus any of Kennebec County and also minus Waldo County) by only 0.28% (620 votes).  He won what was then ME-01 by 1.33%.  I've seen one print table of Presidential election results by congressional district that considered that result one that would be recount close (if it would help determine who was elected President).  And yes, Maine did have use the Congressional district method back then.  1976 was the second election we did that (in the modern era; several states once used a district method and I think that was the reason Maine split 8-1 J.Q. Adams-Jackson in 1828).

Unfortunately the Atlas doesn't have town information for 1976 even for Atlas members, but it wouldn't surprise me if Carter actually received more votes than Ford in the version of ME-02 that was used from 2004 through 2010 (so just the 2004 and 2010 2008 Presidential elections), which included Waterville and Winslow (although also Waldo County, which Ford carried by 12.34% (1,436 votes), which would bring Ford's margin up to 2,056 votes before any Kennebec County towns are added in).

[Kevinstat]

You might also be interested in these two weblogs from 2004.

https://uselectionatlas.org/WEBLOGS/dave/2004/09/02/the-potential-for-split-electors-in-maine/ (the historical results from 1980 on in this post are for the districts that would be used for the first time in 2004)

https://uselectionatlas.org/WEBLOGS/dave/2004/09/26/maine-trend-analysis/

[Indy Texas]

Perhaps that information is available somewhere on Maine's Secretary of State website (or whatever office is in charge of elections up there).