The Division of Elections reported Friday that six villages in rural Alaska were not included in the final count of ballots for Alaska’s November elections. According to a division official, the U.S. The Postal Service failed the to deliver the ballots to the state election headquarters in time for the Nov. 30 election.
“You will need to contact USPS to determine why some never arrived — as poll workers told us, everything had been sent,” Tiffany Montemayor, division’s public relations manager, said by email.
According to the division, this meant that 259 voters in St. George and Levelock, Ambler Kiana, Kobuk, and Noorvik only had their ballots partially counted.
“The Postal Service has received six canvas bags after the November 30th deadline. “We regret the problems caused by this incident, and are reviewing it with the Alaska Division of Elections in order to avoid any recurrences in future elections,” stated James Boxrud (communications manager for the WestPac Area of the Postal Service).
Although the election results were not affected by the failure to deliver, it does add to the record of problems rural voters are facing this year.
After the August special election for U.S. House in August, seven villages’ votes did not reach elections officials in sufficient time to be counted.
In August, two polling stations did not open as planned. Two other rural polling stations were opened late on Election Day in November.
A large number of rural Alaskan ballots were also rejected in the June by mail special primary to fill the U.S. House vacancy left by the passing of Congressman Don Young.
Michelle Sparck, of Get Out The Native Vote said, “It’s certainly not an amazing trend.” She spoke out to explain that the group encourages participation in Alaska’s rural communities, which are primarily Native.
The state’s new ranked-choice voting system only exacerbated the problems created by November’s absent ballots.
Alaska’s 131 voting precincts count ballots by hand. The results are telephoned to election officials who add them to the final results and publish a preliminary Report.
Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system uses an automated sorting process to determine the final winners of close races. Each ballot must be scanned in order to receive a final result.
Maine’s ranked choice ballots must be transported to the capital of Maine for processing. Because that’s not possible in Maine, elections officials made arrangements for the ballots to be mailed to Juneau.
Alaskans for Better Elections , a non-partisan nonprofit that supports ranked choice voting in Alaska, is . Amanda Moser, chief strategist officer of the group, stated that the inability to receive all ballots on time was “unfortunate” as “these voters didn’t have the chance to have their maximum voice heard.”
She stated, “Moving forward, truly working with the Division of Elections, and other statewide partner that are in this area, we must find the best path to ensure that all Alaskans have an opportunity to have their full voices heard in the election.”
Election officials paid for the USPS Express Mail to send the ballot packages after the partial failure of August.
The packages from six villages had not yet arrived in Juneau as of Monday morning.
Montemayor was asked if elections officials had a new plan. He said they didn’t, but would look into other options for the coming year.
The Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced a bill to allow the Division of Elections mandate by-mail voter registration in small communities that are difficult to hire poll workers. The Legislature did not approve the bill.
Sparck stated that any solution that includes the U.S. Mail being delivered to rural Alaska must be rethought.
She said that rural Alaskan voters don’t do well with mail, “whether it be weather issues, postal service staffing issues, or English as an additional language disadvantages.”
She said, “I cannot say that’s the better option.”
The original version of this article appeared in the Alaska Beacon. It is republished with permission.
