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On first day of voting, election officials receive 983 ballots in Juneau’s two districts, 11,878 statewide
Total votes for District 3 were the second-highest statewide
By Mark Sabbatini and Jasz Garrett
Ballots from nearly 1,000 people in Juneau’s two voting districts and 12,000 people statewide were received on the first day of early voting in the midterm elections, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.
A total of 285 in-person early votes were cast in House District 3 — which covers the northern portion of Juneau, plus surrounding communities such as Skagway and Haines — while 151 absentee ballots were received by mail, online and in-person. In District 4, covering downtown Juneau, 419 in-person early votes and 128 absentee ballots were received.
The 547 total votes for District 3 were the second-highest statewide behind 562 votes received in House 25 in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, according to the Division of Elections figures.
Six ballots in local districts and 65 statewide were partially or fully rejected for procedural reasons such as missing signatures.
Statewide, 6,744 in-person early votes and 5,134 absentee ballots were received, with 65 partially or fully rejected.
A first-day tally of votes from previous elections is not available from the Division of Elections, which only tracks the full early voting results upon completion, according to Stephen Kirch, a spokesperson for the division.
During the last midterm elections in 2022, a total of 267,047 ballots were cast by 601,795 eligible voters in Alaska, a turnout of 44.38%, according to the Division of Elections.
Breandán Ó Ciarraid, the Region I elections supervisor — spanning House Districts 1-6 — said the Mendenhall Mall location was busier than anticipated on Monday morning. It took a bit of time to get a second computer up and running to keep up with voters eager to cast their ballots.
Ciarraid added there was some user error at the downtown voting center, involving mistakes voters made when feeding ballots into machines.
But later that afternoon, the line was flowing steadily.
Juneau’s two early voting locations — the State Office Building and Mendenhall Mall Annex — are among a handful in Alaska where residents registered in all 40 of the state House districts can cast ballots. Voters can also drop off by-mail ballots to the absentee official at the location during hours of operation.
Both locations are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the mall annex is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or 907-957-2306. Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or 907-723-9356.
