Largest number of absentee ballots cast in Alaska history could have impact on close primary races

MAT-SU — With a target election certification date of Aug. 30, the Alaska Division of Elections reported ballot totals at 4 p.m. on Wednesday for early voting and in-person voting that occurred around the state Tuesday.

Alaskans cast 57,097 ballots in person on primary Election Day, accounting for 9.7 percent of the 588,341 total registered voters in Alaska. However, the Division of Elections provided 62,498 total absentee and absentee by mail ballots during this election cycle and accepted 30,793 in full out of the 31,523 total ballots that were received. The largest number of absentee ballots cast in Alaska history could have an effect on numerous races once counted.

In the closest race yet to be called, Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Jesse Sumner is challenging current District 10 Rep. David Eastman. Eastman received 1,129 of the votes counted on Tuesday night and Sumner received 1,050. Sumner would need 61 percent or 433 of the 706 absentee votes accepted in full by the Division of Elections to overtake Eastman and claim the Republican nomination. In District 10, 1,420 absentee ballots were sent out to voters. With all 11 precincts reporting, 2,201 ballots were received in person by District 10 voters, accounting for 12.8 percent of the 17,256 registered voters in that district. Monica-Stein-Olson received 416 votes, accounting for 2.7 percent of the voters in District 10.

Senate District D encompasses House District’s 7 and 8, representing 33,759 registered voters in greater Wasilla. In the most crowded primary in the Valley, Sen. David Wilson is holding onto a 249-vote lead over Stephen Wright, who is in second place.

“We knew we were fighting an uphill battle,” said Wilson. “We knew it was going to be a close race.”

Wright received 1,000 votes on election night and with 998 total absentee votes accepted in full by the Division of Elections in Senate D, Wright would need 75 percent of those existing votes to overtake Wilson. Wilson received 1,249 votes on election night, leading Wright and four other challengers. Of the in-person votes, Loy Thurman received 892, Bee Rupright received 365, Chandra McCain-Finch received 267 and Huhnkie Lee received 85 votes. Thomas Lamb received 87.7 percent of the ballots cast in the Democratic primary with 618 votes.

House District 9 Rep. George Rauscher holds a 369-vote lead on Luke “LD” Howard in the Republican primary. A total of 1,408 absentee votes were sent in District 9 and 734 were accepted in full by the Division of Elections. Howard would need 75 percent or 552 of the remaining ballots to overtake Rauscher. Bill Johnson received 481 votes in the Democratic primary, accounting for 3.2 percent of 16,633 registered voters.

House District 8 Rep. Mark Neuman is trailing challenger Kevin McCabe by 568 votes in the Republican primary. With 17,265 registered voters in District 8, 1,137 total absentee ballots were requested and 525 accepted in full by the Division of Elections. Neuman has not yet been mathematically eliminated, but is trailing McCabe by more votes than have yet been accepted. Alma Hartley received 306 votes in the Democratic primary for District 8.

Christopher Kurka holds a similar lead to McCabe in his House District 7 race against Lynn Gattis to replace Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard. Gattis received 520 votes to Kurka’s 1,294. House District 7 contains 16,494 registered voters, and 1,185 total ballots were distributed in the district. Gattis trails Kurka by 774 votes, more than the 473 absentee votes that have been accepted, but has not yet been mathematically eliminated. No candidates ran in the Democratic primary for District 7.

Sen. Shelley Hughes, Rep. Cathy Tilton and Rep. DeLena Johnson all cruised to easy Republican primary victories, with Hughes and Tilton running unopposed.

“I am feeling quite confident. Of course there wasn’t any opportunity for a write in so I am the nominee and same with Cathy Tilton and it looks like DeLena,” said Hughes.

Hughes received 95.1 percent of the 3,703 Republican ballots cast in Senate District F with 3,522 on election night. Democratic candidate Stephany Jeffers received 950 votes in Senate District F, accounting for 3.3 percent of the 32,544 registered voters in that district. Johnson faced Alex Fetta in the Republican primary, who had withdrawn his candidacy but still appeared on the ballot. Johnson received 1,420 votes accounting for 75.3 percent of the 1,885 ballots cast in District 11. Andrea Hackbarth received 564 votes in the Democratic primary in District F. Tilton received more votes than any other candidate for the Legislature in the Valley. Tilton received 1,730 votes in her unopposed Republican Primary in District 12, which has 16,293 registered voters. Danny Gray received 388 of the 434 ballots cast in the District 12 Democratic primary.

In the Nov. 3 general election, other candidates will be featured on the ballot that did not run in their party primaries. Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Dan Mayfield is running in Senate District D. If Wilson can hold his lead over Wright, he will face Mayfield and Lamb in the general election in Senate District D.

Jamin Burton is running in House District 7 in the general election. With no Democratic primary candidates, Burton will likely face Kurka in the District 7 general election unless Gattis receives an overwhelming amount of absentee votes. Allan Riordan-Randall and Libertarian Gavin Christiansen will also appear on the general election in Senate District F, running against Hughes and Jeffers. Billy Fikes Jr., is running in the general election in House District 8 and Patricia Faye-Brazel will also be featured on the general election ballot in House District 10.

In total, 246 of 442 total precincts have reported their results from across Alaska, accounting for just 55.66 percent of polling places. In races for Alaska’s federal representation in Washington, D.C., results stayed consistent as additional numbers were reported at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan received 46,045 votes out of 48,547 ballots issued in the Republican primary for Senate, accounting for 94.8 percent. Al Gross received 23,356 votes less than Sullivan in winning the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Gross received 73 percent of the 31,090 ballots counted and defeated John Wayne Howe, Edgar Blatchford and Chris Cummings.

Dean of the House and current U.S. Rep. Don Young defeated two challengers in the Republican primary for House, receiving 36,674 votes out of 48,547 ballots cast. Young defeated John Nelson and Gerald Heikes from Palmer who received 2,749 total votes. Young received 12,540 votes more than Democratic primary victor Alyse Galvin, who defeated Ray Sean Tugatuk and Bill Hibler with 77.6 percent of the votes in the Democratic primary for U.S. House.