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JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Division of Elections has determined that Wasilla Republican state Rep. David Eastman is eligible to run for reelection. Eastman’s candidacy faced challenges over his affiliation with the far-right Oath Keepers group. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai in a written response to the complaints said a “preponderance of evidence supports his eligibility.” The division on June 22 in response to a records request from The Associated Press provided copies of complaints that were filed challenging the eligibi...
Breaking news: Al Gross late Monday withdrew from the race for U.S. House. Gross, who had finished third in the primary election, did not give a reason for his decision. The Alaska Division of Elections on Tuesday said the August general election to fill the unexpired term of the late U.S. Rep. Don Young will proceed with just three candidates, not four as had been expected. The division said state law does not allow for the fifth-place finisher, Tara Sweeney, to move up to fill out the four finalists for the general election for the seat. The...
As election officials count votes in Alaska’s first-ever statewide election by mail, they have rejected thousands of submitted ballots, including one in six from a Western Alaska state House district, causing concern from observers who say the state’s process is disenfranchising voters, particularly Alaska Natives. At last week’s meeting of the National Congress of American Indians in Anchorage, Michelle Sparck delivered a speech on behalf of a group whose mission is to improve Alaska Native voting rates. When she described the issue, “ther...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Challenges have been filed to keep Wasilla Republican state Rep. David Eastman’s name off the ballot in his reelection bid, arguing that his affiliation with the far-right Oath Keepers disqualifies him under the state constitution. Several people said they filed complaints related to a section of the constitution that prevents from holding public office anyone who “advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the Unite...
This is the first year for ranked-choice voting in Alaska, and the changeover will start next week. Voting in the primary election to choose from among 48 candidates to fill the unexpired term of the late U.S. Rep. Don Young will close June 11. The top four vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Aug. 16 election, though voters need to remember they can cast a ballot for only one candidate in the primary. The general election is when voters will have the option to rank their top choices among the final four as 1, 2, 3 and 4, or just 1...
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced Monday that Nancy Dahlstrom will be his running mate as he seeks reelection this year. Dahlstrom, a former state legislator from Eagle River who has led the state Department of Corrections under Dunleavy, submitted her resignation as Corrections commissioner on Sunday, according to a statement from Dunleavy’s office. The campaign announcement came just over a week before the June 1 filing deadline for the August primary. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a team under a new e...
A retired Matanuska-Susitna Borough teacher has filed to run as a Democrat for U.S. Senate in Alaska. Pat Chesbro filed candidacy paperwork with the state Division of Elections on May 11. She would join a crowded field of 16 candidates in the Aug. 16 primary that includes the incumbent, Republican Lisa Murkowski, and Kelly Tshibaka, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Murkowski has had a huge cash advantage in the race so far. The filing deadline is June 1. Chesbro’s campaign said she spent a career in education and is on th...
WASILLA (AP) - Sarah Palin isn't used to sharing the spotlight. In the nearly 14 years since she burst onto the national political scene, the former Alaska governor has appeared on reality television programs, written books, spent time as a Fox News contributor, formed a political action committee in her name and been a rumored White House contender. She more recently revived her status as a conservative sensation with an unsuccessful lawsuit against The New York Times. Now, the first...
The commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Revenue was called into a special meeting last month to discuss a problem: The Permanent Fund Dividend Division was under cyberattack. In a short period of time, more than 800,000 attempts were made to get into the division’s systems, which are in charge of paying the annual dividend to Alaskans. The division shut down its computers, the department’s firewalls held, and “no Alaskans’ data was accessed,” said Anna MacKinnon, director of the division. “Our system repelled, as it should, the assault o...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski continues to have a substantial cash advantage over her opponent backed by former President Donald Trump. Murkowski, in office since 2002, brought in more than $1.5 million in the three-month period ending March 31, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Murkowski ended the quarter with $5.2 million on hand with no debt, the records show. Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is challenging Murkowski, raised $673,383 during the last...
JUNEAU (AP) — State election officials on March 22 announced plans for a June 11 special primary and an Aug. 16 special election to fill the U.S. House seat left vacant with the death of Alaska Rep. Don Young. The winner would serve the remainder of Young’s term, which ends in January. Another election would be held in November to fill the next full two-year term in Congress, which will start in January. Officials are planning for the special primary to be conducted by mail given the short timeline to hold the election, said Lt. Gov. Kevin Mey...
JUNEAU (AP) — Independent Al Gross announced plans Monday to run for Alaska’s U.S. House seat following the death earlier this month of Rep. Don Young. Gross’ campaign, in a statement, said he will file as a candidate to fill the remaining term that ends in January, and for the full two-year term that begins in January. Gross in 2020 ran a $20 million campaign for U.S. Senate, losing to incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Gross, who has worked as an orthopedic surgeon and fisherman, ran unsuccessfully for the hospital board in Peter...
KENAI (AP) — Republican Charlie Pierce, Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor, has picked the chair of the Alaska Parole Board, Edie Grunwald, of the Matanuska Valley, to be his running mate as he campaigns for the governor’s job. Grunwald previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2018, finishing second in that year’s Republican primary to Kevin Meyer, the current office holder. Under a new voter-approved election system, which will be used for the first time in Alaska this year, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor will run as a team from...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski ended the year with almost seven times the cash on hand as her chief Republican rival, Kelly Tshibaka, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. Murkowski, who made official in November plans to seek reelection, reported bringing in nearly $1.4 million during the last quarter of the year and ending 2021 with about $4.3 million available. Tshibaka, who announced her plans to run last March, reported bringing in nearly $602,000 in the past quarter and ending the year with about $634,000 on h...
JUNEAU (AP) — A Democratic state legislator has announced her bid for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Lisa Murkowski. State Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, a former Anchorage assembly member in her first term in the state Legislature, filed candidacy papers with the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Feb. 10. Gray-Jackson is the first Democrat to join a field of contenders that also includes Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is supported by former President Donald Trump. Murkowski is seeking reelection. She has held the office sin...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A Homer man whose home was mistakenly raided by FBI agents searching for a laptop stolen from the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has been chosen as the running mate for conservative Alaska Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Kurka. Paul Hueper, 59, wearing a T-shirt that said, “We the People are Pissed,” was introduced as the lieutenant governor candidate by Kurka at a rally Jan. 31 in Wasilla. Kurka, a freshman in the Alaska House, said he chose a running mate that has the same vision he has, and...
Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a unique new system that scraps party primaries and uses ranked-choice voting in general elections. The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the system, narrowly approved by voters in 2020. It calls for an open primary in which all candidates for each race appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation, followed by ranked voting in the general election. No other state conducts its elections with this combination, which appli...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Supporters of a proposed initiative that seeks to formalize government-to-government relationships between the state and federally recognized tribes in Alaska have submitted signatures aimed at getting the measure on this year’s ballot. The campaign behind the measure needed to gather 36,140 signatures from across the state. It submitted 56,200 signatures to the state Division of Elections last month, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The division must review and verify the signatures, and the campaign will be notified wit...
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer last year said the issue his office seemed to be getting the most email on after the 2020 election was the narrow victory of a ballot measure to overhaul Alaska’s election process. His chief of staff said they were getting up to 20 emails a day. But a records request by The Associated Press yielded fewer than 20 total unique emails that were received by the office with complaints or concerns about the election, and only three mentioned the ballot measure that would end political party primaries and institute r...
A Delta Junction resident upset over the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, illegal immigration and the direction he thinks the country is headed is accused of threatening the lives of Alaska’s two U.S. senators in a series of profanity-laced voicemails that included saying he would hire an assassin to kill one. “Your life is worth $5,000, that’s all it’s worth,” the message left at the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. “And as you let in these terrorists, assassins, guess what? I’m going to use them. I’m going to hire them.” Som...
JUNEAU (AP) - Former state Rep. Les Gara on Aug. 20 announced plans to run for governor in next year’s election. The Anchorage Democrat joins Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, and former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, who have previously announced their intentions to run. Libertarian William “Billy” Toien, who unsuccessfully ran in 2018, is the only official candidate listed so far with the state Division of Elections. In a statement, Gara cited as concerns state public works construction needs, Alaska’s education and university systems...
Some of the key players in legislative efforts to reach a compromise on a long-term fiscal plan for the state — in addition to settling on an amount for this fall’s Permanent Fund dividend — say growing regional, political and economic differences, plus a large number of first-term legislators, make the effort harder. “To find a common ground means people have to give up something,” said Anchorage Sen. Natasha von Imhof. That compromise of spending versus revenues versus dividends has to add up to a solution that balances the checkbook...
A group seeking Gov. Mike Dunleavy's ouster has yet to gather enough signatures to force a recall election, nearly two years after getting started and with just over a year before the 2022 primary election. Recall Dunleavy Chair Meda DeWitt said the organization was slowed by the pandemic last year but still continues to gather signatures. She said its leaders are expected to meet soon, though she declined to say when. The last update on the recall group's website is dated April 26 and showed 57,897 signatures collected. DeWitt said the group...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The results of Alaska’s general election were certified Monday, the Division of Elections announced. Certification followed a review of ballots, voter registers and other materials by a bipartisan board. Certification initially was targeted for Nov. 25. Nationally, state-by-state certification of results has generated interest as President Donald Trump and some supporters have sought to sow doubt about the outcome of his race, won by Democrat Joe Biden. Alaska was among the states Trump won. In a tight Anchorage Hous...
As of last Wednesday, Nov. 18, all absentee and early ballots have been counted for District 36. According to unofficial results for the Nov. 3 election, there were 3,748 absentee ballots cast this election, as well as 10 early votes and 458 questioned ballots. "All the eligible ballots have been counted," Tiffany Montemayor, with the Alaska Division of Elections, said. "Every district, every precinct." District 36 covers the communities of Wrangell, Ketchikan, Metlakatla, and others....
