Alaskans will hit the polls today for the regular Primary and the Special General Election. The races that are on the Primary Ballot include the races for United States Senator, United States Representative, Governor/Lt. Governor, State Senate, and State Representative. For those races that have less than four candidates running for the seat, all the candidates for the race will move on to the General Election in November. Voting instructions for the Primary Election includes that you vote for one candidate only.
On the flipside of the same piece of paper is the ballot for the Special General Election for United States Representative where the winner will serve the remainder of Congressman Don Young’s term, which ends in early January 2023. The candidates on the ballot include Republicans Nick Begich and Sarah Palin and Democrat Mary Peltola.
This election is conducted through Ranked Choice Voting where voters may rank candidates in order of preference and ballots are counted in rounds. If a candidate gets 50% + 1 vote in round one, they win. If no one does, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those votes are distributed to the voters’ next choice on the ballots.
Instructions include that you completely fill in no more than one oval for each candidate or column. For your first choice, fill the oval in the first-choice column, the same applies for the second and third choice in their second and third columns. Voters can also write-in a candidate for the Special General Election.
The target date to certify the Primary Election is September 2. The polls open at 7:00 a.m. and they close at 8:00 p.m. tonight.
Click here for a list of polling places by district.