With a number of closely-contested initial results for the general elections on Nov. 4, voters and candidates alike may be holding their breath as Alaska’s Division of Elections began counting absentee and early votes Tuesday.
The margins for several races remain slim. For a seat in the Senate, initial polling saw Republican challenger Dan Sullivan hold an 8,149-vote lead over Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich.
In the gubernatorial race, a mere 3,165 votes separate incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell from Independent challenger Bill Walker, whose united ticket with the former Democratic Party candidate Byron Mallott holds a slight lead.
And in Southeast’s Alaska House District 36 race, Independent candidate Dan Ortiz holds a lead of just 19 votes over Republican candidate Chere Klein. The winner there will replace outgoing Rep. Peggy Wilson to represent Ketchikan, Wrangell and other neighboring communities in the Juneau legislature.
The number of absentee, questioned and early votes are such that the actual results of these races remain in the air.
“We have over 48,000 ballots that remain to be counted,” said Gail Fenumiai, Elections director.
Of these, 2,651 are early votes, 32,114 are full-count absentee ballots, and 2,770 are partial-count. These were cast at one of more than 200 voting locations around the state. Another 10,512 are outstanding absentee ballots, sent in by mail, fax or online. District 36 has 1,283 full-count and 32 partial-count absentee ballots to be counted.
A further 16,172 ballots are considered questioned. Some 13,038 of those will be reviewed for counting, the remainder were deemed
ineligible for counting. District 36 has 601 questioned ballots to be reviewed.
By state law, election officials will have until Nov. 19 to count all the ballots.
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