Alaska’s Primary and Special General Election is on Tuesday, August 16. Governor/Lt. Governor, United States Representative, United States Senator, State Senator, and State Representative are all appearing on the regular primary ballot while there also will be a Special General Election on the back side of the ballot to vote in, through Ranked Choice Voting, who will be elected to fill in the remainder of the late Congressman Don Young’s term which ends January 2023.
Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer and the Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai held a media availability through the online platform Zoom to answer questions people have about the upcoming regular Primary and Special General Election.
Meyer said:
“Again, this election is unique in the sense that we both have the Special General where people are going to rank the candidates and then on the other side of the ballot will be the regular Primary Election. Even that’s a little different because in the past people will have to ask either for the Democrat ballot or the Republican ballot in the Primary, now there’s just going to be one ballot and people will pick one person and then, of course, the top four will then go on to the general.”
Meyer expresses concern that there’s confusion over the new election process, citing the increased number of calls in the Division of Elections. He requested that individuals who have ordered an absentee ballot fill it out as soon as you can and return it, saying that many wait until the last minute to fill out the ballots. He also clarified that the elections held on Tuesday are not a vote-by-mail election, unlike the one held earlier this year.
On election security, Meyer said:
“All the ballots are paper, they always have been and, again, they will be. There is no internet voting. There is no voting by machine. It’s all done by paper. The tabulators, which, yes, they are Dominion and we’ve always had Dominion, they are all tested before Gail and her crew deploys them out to the various voting areas. Just to make sure that they’re all working correctly, state law requires us to take one precinct from each district and we recount that to make sure it matched what the tabulator says.”
On August 16, the Division will release an Election Summary Report and a Statement of Votes Cast for both the Primary and Special General Election. They will only show first choice results, according to the Division. If ranked choice tabulation is required for the Special General Election, an additional report called the RCV Detailed Report will be published.
August 31 is a day to remember as that’s a day the Division will review the Special General Election race to determine if any candidate received 50% plus one vote. If not, the ranked choice tabulation will begin. September 2 is the target date for the State Review Board to certify the election.
Click the images below for election dates, frequently asked questions, election security, reading election results, and understanding the RCV detailed report.
