Record early, absentee ballots being cast

MAT-SU -- Polls where voters can cast an early ballot were busy with record numbers of voters this week, as the general election nears.

The trend toward early voting carried throughout the state, according to Alaska Division of Elections Director Laura Glaiser.

When early polling places opened Monday, she said, more than 200 people turned out in Fairbanks.

Carol Thompson, Southcentral region director for the division, said voter turnout has been high so far in this region.

About 2,000 voters cast early ballots at a Dimond Center location as of Thursday, and another 1,231 voted last week at locations around Anchorage.

In the Valley, judging by ballots that had been delivered to the division's Anchorage office by Thursday, more than 500 people had visited polling places in the Valley and more than 350 absentee ballots had been received.

While her office has been busier this year than in previous election years, Thompson said she's seeing more of a trend toward voters using alternatives to the election-day voting than a spike caused by political parties pushing for early or absentee votes.

"I know there have been pushes out there, and it could be the mood of the country," Thompson said. "But … they get busier every year for me -- it always seems busier."

Thompson said she believes this election could set records for voter turnout, however -- there are simply more people interested in voting.

And if everyone who requested an absentee ballot turns it in, that could be true. The requests for absentee ballots have far outnumbered the requests taken in previous elections, Glaiser said.

During the last statewide election, about 30,000 ballots were mailed out. As of Friday, nearly 50,000 ballot requests had been received, and another 5,000 to 6,000 ballots are expected before the Tuesday cutoff for applications to receive by-mail ballots.

The Juneau office has, so far, hired 17 temporary workers to help keep up with the work, and Glaiser said more may be needed before the election is over.

The staff is contending with more than just absentee applications, however -- Glaiser said two initiative petitions have been turned in for certification, and the division must certify and count the petition signatures in addition to processing absentee applications and dealing with other election-related tasks.

Although one of the most difficult aspects of the election has been keeping up with the increased workload, there have been a few complications along the way that have necessitated additional staff time.

When 987 absentee ballot requests sent out by the Alaska Democratic Party came in over the past two weeks with stickers over the applicants' residence addresses, Glaiser said she decided to send, via priority mail to their mailing addresses, letters to each of the applicants requesting them to send in, mail or fax their proper residence address.

The Division of Elections requires a residence address be given as part of a voter's registration or absentee ballot request process.

In each of the 987 applications for absentee ballots, the address on a sticker affixed to the application was different than the address written directly on the application, Glaiser said earlier this month.

She said she wasn't sure why the stickers were placed on the applications, but would contact each individual voter to determine their correct residence address.

There's little spare time at Division of Elections offices around the state this month, Glaiser said, but she's confident the election will be certified about three weeks after the election -- the same amount of time it generally takes to complete official counts on ballots from all 40 Alaska precincts, as well as questioned, absentee and overseas ballots.

Unless, of course, there are close races or election challenges -- if that's the case, the certification of the results in late November may not signal the end of the division's busiest time.

"We pray for wide margins," Glaiser joked.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.