Shortly after polls close on Nov. 5, Alaska’s Division of Elections will begin tabulating all ballots that were cast on election day, as well as any that previously arrived by Nov. 1 via early voting. These numbers will be posted on the Division of Elections website the night of the election. They are the “unofficial” results.
While some unofficial result may provide a strong indication of the eventual winners, the outcome of contests wherein no candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote will not be known until the state conducts the ranked-choice runoff, which won’t happen for another 15 days, on Nov. 20.
In addition to holding in-person elections at polling places across the state, Nov. 5 is also the day when political parties choose the men and women they want to serve on the Electoral College. The winning presidential candidate’s electors will serve on the Electoral College.
Nov. 5 is also the deadline for all absentee ballots to be submitted by mail with a postmark on or before Election day.
On Nov. 7, the Division of Elections’ Questioned Board will begin reviewing all questioned ballot envelopes. These ballots will then be tallied seven days after Election Day. All questioned ballots must be counted no later than 15 days after the general election.
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On Nov. 8, the State Review Board – a bi-partisan group comprised of at least eight members will randomly select 5% of voting precincts across the state for a hand count verification process to ensure that machine counts are accurate. This hand-count verification will occur on Nov. 18 with a team of about 40 people. If they find a discrepancy of more than 1% or greater during the hand-count verification, they are required to hand-count all of the ballots cast in that district.
Nov. 20 is the deadline to receive ballots mailed from overseas addresses. Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5 to be eligible.
On Nov. 21, the State Review Board begins a final review of election materials.
Nov. 30 is the target date to certify the final General Election results.
Dec. 5 is the estimated deadline to receive an application for recount. The deadline is based on when the State Review Board has finished their review, so this date may change. Recount application must be filed within five days after the completion of the SRB. Recounts are then held within five days of receipt of application for any office or ballot proposition.
Dec. 10 is the estimated deadline for an election contest to be filed in superior court. Court contests must be filed within 10 days after the completion of the State Review Board’s certification of the election results.
LEARN MORE
— To view the official State of Alaska election calendar, click here.
