Federal Monitors Deployed to Alaska Polls as General Election Begins

The U.S. Justice Department announced on Tuesday that federal monitors are observing the election in the Anchorage area and the Dillingham and Kusilvak census areas. This deployment is part of a national plan to place 1,000 monitors across all 50 states. The federal government’s attention to these specific regions follows a recent legal challenge regarding the opening of absentee voting sites.

Five communities in the Dillingham and Kusilvak census areas, including Alakanuk, Mountain Village, Pilot Station, Ekwok, and Manokotak, were cited in a lawsuit filed by the Alaska Democratic Party. The suit alleged that in-person absentee sites had not opened as scheduled before Election Day. Federal monitors have previously been sent to these areas in recent years, where a majority of residents are Alaska Native.

Voters had until 8 p.m. Tuesday to cast ballots at more than 400 polling places across the state, which opened at 7 a.m. Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted. Ballots cast via fax were required to be received by the Division of Elections by 8 p.m. Tuesday. A separate deadline exists for late-arriving mail-in ballots, which must be received by Nov. 18.

The 2026 general election features ranked choice voting for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and 50 of 60 state Legislature seats. The ballot also includes two measures: one to repeal the current open primary and ranked choice system along with some campaign finance laws, and another to clarify citizenship requirements for voting. Preliminary results will only show first-choice rankings, meaning a candidate may not yet have secured more than 50% of the vote in multi-candidate races.

The U.S. Senate race has drawn national attention as the Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit to stop certification of results if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit on Sunday, and the government plans to appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the open race for governor, Republican candidates Bernadette Wilson, Dave Bronson, and Treg Taylor are competing against Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins to succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Advocates raised concerns over rural voting locations that failed to open on schedule. Under a deal reached over the weekend, the Alaska Democratic Party and rural legislators worked with the Division of Elections to recruit poll workers to ensure all locations opened. The Division of Elections is scheduled to count all remaining votes and perform ranked choice tabulation on Nov. 18, with results certified one week later on Nov. 25.