Surge of late mailed ballots delays initial Anchorage election results

A surge of mailed Anchorage municipal election ballots received on Monday will delay release of preliminary results, the municipal clerk's office said in a press release late Monday. Some 45,726 mailed ballots had been received as of Sunday, April 5, with an estimated 10,000 additional ballot received Monday.

The clerk's office said it will take time to go through ballots received Monday, and before any meaningful results can be released.

With less than 5 percent of the vote counted, Forrest Dunbar and Dave Bronson are off to big early leads, taking 36 and 31 percent, respectively. Bill Falsey sits third at 13 percent, Bill Evans is at 10 percent and Mike Robbins is at 7 percent.

There are 15 candidates for mayor on the ballot along with measures approving bonds for public facilities, public safety, parks and other purposes. A ballot question in a downtown Anchorage assembly district is polling voters on a recall of assemblyman Felix Rivera.

Anchorage's election is being closely watched as an indicator of the political mood of a city with about half the state's population. Municipal elections are nonpartisan but several conservative candidates for mayor are running and how well they do will indicate a possible swing of voters toward conservatives, with implications for the 2022 races for governor, U.S. Senate and local legislative seats.

Ballot counting is expecting to resume at 8 this morning.