The Alaska Division of Elections, in a Nov. 9 press release, announced a schedule for conducting absentee ballot counts. Moving forward, they announced that the public could expect updated counts to be released twice daily, at 5 p.m. and again at the close of business.
"It is the mission of my office and the Division of Elections to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by administering elections with the highest level of professional standards, integrity, security, accuracy, and fairness," said Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer in the press release. "With a record amount of absentee ballots issued, and an outstanding amount of early voter turnout, we are taking very seriously our role in tabulating all ballots."
According to the Division of Elections website, as of Nov. 9, Alaska saw 193,477 ballots cast early, or were otherwise questioned. Sarah Whittlesley-Merrit, LIO for Wrangell, told media on election night that Wrangell had 316 early ballots cast.
Tiffany Montemayor, PR Manager for the Division of Elections, said that they were currently not sure when they would get to District 36's absentee ballots, which includes the city of Wrangell. They have to wait for all the precincts' registers to be turned in, so they could check the names of absentee ballots that were cast in-person, before counting could begin. There was some delay in this, she said, because there are several remote communities in Region I, which District 36 is a part of, that are remote. Montemayor said as of 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 that they were not certain what the schedule would be. She was not sure exactly when they would get to District 36's ballots, but they would hopefully be able to release that information soon.
There were 732 ballots cast on election day in Wrangell, plus four special needs ballots and 23 questioned ballots.
For President, Wrangell cast 171 ballots for Joe Biden, and 526 votes for Donald Trump.
For U.S. Senator, Wrangell cast 167 votes for Al Gross, and 504 votes for Dan Sullivan.
For U.S. Representative, Wrangell cast 196 votes for Alyse Galvin, and 519 votes for Don Young.
For State Senator, Wrangell cast 605 votes for Bert Stedman, and 35 votes for write-in candidates.
For State Representative, Wrangell cast 344 votes for Dan Ortiz, and 366 votes for Leslie Becker.
On retention of Susan Carney to the Alaska Supreme Court, Wrangell cast 400 votes for "yes," and 249 votes for "no."
On retention of Tracey Wollenberg to the Alaska Court of Appeals, Wrangell cast 414 votes for "yes" and 219 votes for "no."
On Ballot Measure One, Wrangell cast 240 votes for "yes," and 451 votes for "no."
On Ballot Measure Two, Wrangell cast 322 votes for "yes," and 379 votes for "no."
Including the 316 early votes Merrit reported, Wrangell had a turnout of about 54 percent this election, an increase of about ten percent since the last
presidential election. Election results can be found at http://www.elections.alaska.gov.
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