By AlaskaWatchman.com

Roughly 10,000 Alaskans have already cast their ballots for the primary and special general elections, which are set for Aug. 16. Ballots cast thus far include early in-person voting and mail-in absentee ballots, which had to have been requested by Aug. 6. All absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before the Aug. 16 election day.

Alaskans are voting a single ballot which includes two separate elections. One is for the special general election to choose a temporary replacement to fill out the remaining months of the late Congressman Don Young’s term. Voters will choose from among Republicans Nick Begich and Sarah Palin, along with Democrat Mary Peltola. This is a ranked choice contest in which voters are asked to rank their top three choices in order. Voters can, however, choose to only rank just one or two candidates.

On the other side of the same ballot, is the statewide primary in which voters will vote for only one candidate in each race. These contests include a U.S. Senate seat, the governor and lieutenant governor races and nearly every seat in the Alaska State Legislature. The top four vote earners in each race will then go on to the November 8 general election.

While the window to request absentee mail-in ballots has closed, those wanting to vote early can still do so in person at one of 11 early voting polling locations around Alaska. Click here to find a location nearby.

To vote on election day, Aug. 16, click here to find your official polling place.

For all other election information, visit the State of Alaska elections website here.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.

Early voting well underway for Alaska’s primary & special elections

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


7 Comments

  • James says:

    Vote on election day! No early voting!

    • Proud Alaskan says:

      Agree
      All you people out there. If YOU DON’T VOTE shut your mouth

      • DaveMaxwell says:

        Oh yah I’m voting but I’m also convinced the system is rigged! Kelly is a great candidate who will lose! I voted for her. Outcome will prove I’m right! The system is rigged!!! Blame the idiots in charge, not the people!!!
        RIGGED

  • Therese Syren says:

    Are there some general guidelines as to how to navigate ranked voting in order to best defeat opposition?

  • Diana says:

    If yu are confused by the new ballot, don’t be. When you get to each section just vote for ONE!!! Don’t get into the nitty gritty of many to line up in a choice. Vote for one person and go on to the next section. But having voted early, we have those awful, Dominion Voting machines to push the ballot through. I asked the woman tending the ballot into the dominion voting machine if it was connected to the internet and she refused to acknowledge my question. Too Bad for her. Remember, these are the machines that make their choice and you will never know the outcome. Just the person you did not vote for. That is how Dunleavy got in as governor. Dominion voting machines made the choice, you did not!!!

  • Sterling Crone says:

    It has been pointed out that we have the most corrupt state out of all 50 because Dominion machines AND “ranked voting” making a joke out of any thought that we have a choice for anything. No wonder voter turnout dwindled to 30%. Why bother if we dont have the guts to get rid of internet connected and programmable machines and slight-of-hand ballot tactics?