Alaska Early Voting Nears 10% Mark

Alaska's early ballot count crossed 58,000 with a week to go before the Nov. 3 general election, putting turnout on pace with the record numbers recorded in 2024. The Alaska Division of Elections reported 58,168 early or absentee ballots cast as of 4:43 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. That figure already exceeds the total early votes recorded before the 2022 midterm election.

Of those, 34,738 were cast in person at Alaska's 10 early voting stations between Oct. 19 and the end of Monday, Oct. 26. Registered Republicans made up 26.7% of those early voters, while registered Democrats accounted for 18.4%. Alaska has 604,771 registered voters overall, of whom 23.5% are Republicans and 11.6% are Democrats.

Elections officials will publish Tuesday's figures on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Ballots cast through Thursday will be included in totals released on Election Day, but votes recorded from Friday onward will not appear in those totals because staff must check them against the Election Day voter register to prevent double voting.

Absentee ballot review boards began examining those ballots on Tuesday, Oct. 27. These paid, multipartisan temporary worker groups will continue until the final absentee ballots reach regional headquarters on Nov. 18. Alaska counts late-arriving absentee ballots if they are postmarked on or before Election Day. Ballots mailed from within the United States must arrive by Nov. 13, and international ballots by Nov. 18.

Results published before Nov. 18 will show only first-choice preferences. Alaska uses ranked choice voting in general elections: a candidate with more than 50% of first-choice votes wins outright. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated and their voters' second preferences are counted, repeating until two candidates remain. The state runs that tabulation on Nov. 18 and aims to certify results by Nov. 25.