Nearly 63,000 ballot envelopes had been logged in at the Anchorage Election Office as of Friday night. Another 30,000 or more are expected to be cast before the end of the mayoral runoff between Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar.
Votes must be received no later than 8 pm on Tuesday.
Anchorage has moved to a mail-in election method, but drop boxes and voting in person is still possible. If the April 6 election is any indication, many Anchorage residents still prefer to vote in person.
Lines were long at the Loussac Library on April 6, one of three places that allows in-person voting. People said they prefer the Loussac over City Hall because of the terrible conditions in downtown Anchorage and lack of free parking downtown. But City Hall also had shorter lines on April 6 than the Loussac. People can also vote at Eagle River Town Center.
People reported they preferred voting in person for security reasons, and lack of trust with the mail-in, drop-box system.
Voting by mail has downsides: If for some reason your ballot has a stray mark or the signature isn’t being approved, you have very little time to “cure” your ballot. You will need to be in a position to check your mail for a ballot rejection letter and then be prepared to go down to the Election Center at Ship Creek to “cure” your ballot. If you are traveling, you’re out of luck and your ballot may not count if you forgot to sign it, or if your signature doesn’t match, for instance.
This isn’t a theoretical problem and can make the difference in the election: 1,440 voters in the April 6 election submitted ballots with errors and were not able to get them fixed in time. That race came down to a Bronson over Dunbar victory of 1,241 votes.
Who adjudicates ballots? There’s a commission for that
Secure drop boxes for ballots are located at:
- Anchorage School District Education Center – 5530 East Northern Lights Boulevard: Location Picture
- Bartlett High School – 1101 Golden Bear Drive: Location Picture
- Begich Middle School – 7440 Creekside Center Drive: Location Picture
- City Hall – 632 West 6th Avenue, Parking Lot
- Clark Middle School – 150 Bragaw Street: Location Picture
- Dimond High School – 2909 West 88th Avenue: Location Picture
- Eagle River Town Center – 12001 Business Boulevard (in Eagle River): Location Picture
- Election Center – 619 East Ship Creek Avenue: Location Picture
- Fairview Community Recreation Center – 1121 East 10th Avenue: Location Picture
- Girdwood Community Center – 250 Egloff Drive (in Girdwood): Location Picture
- Loussac Library – 3600 Denali Street: Location Picture
- O’Malley’s on the Green – 3651 O’Malley Road: Location Picture
- New! Planning and Development Center (MOA Permit Center) – 4700 Elmore Road: Location Picture
- Service High School – 5577 Abbott Road: Location Picture
- South Anchorage High School – 13400 Elmore Road: Location Picture
- Spenard Community Recreation Center – 2020 West 48th Avenue: Location Picture
- UAA Alaska Airlines Center – 3550 Providence Drive: Location Picture
- West Anchorage High School – 1700 Hillcrest Drive: Location Picture
Vote in Person Locations:
| City Hall 632 West 6th Avenue, Room #155 Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Eagle River Town Center 12001 Business Boulevard, Community Room #170 (same building as the library) Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Election Day, May 11, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Only Chugiak-Eagle River ballots will be available at this location. Loussac Library3600 Denali Street, First Floor, Assembly Chambers Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Election Day, May 11, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. |
If you left town on a trip near the end of April, prior to receiving your ballot in the mail, and do not return before 5/11 you are disenfranchised . There was no absentee voting in place nor early voting due to election results from the last election taking forever to compile. Ballots could not be forwarded. At least that is what the Muni election office told a friend who had to be out of town and was therefor unable to vote.
If he was informed correctly – that is shameful!
They are crooks.
The fact they are already counting the vote is probelmatic because that means several people are privvy to the trajectory of the election before all the votes have ben cast.
They don’t count the votes until Tuesday night. They log in the envelopes and know who has voted. -sd
There is an option that you could have voted via email(shocking!) Or go to election central and vote in person. This is what they told me when I had the same issue. Fortunately, I did get the ballot a day before I left. Maybe she could call and vote via email tomorrow.
That doesn’t seem very shameful to me.
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It’s not that long ago that there wouldn’t have been a ballot to forward. Does it really seem like the MOA’s fault that your buddy might be out of town? That seems a little harsh.
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The larger issue would be ‘by how much of a landslide did Mr. Bronson win this election’?
I thought that this was an ironic headline: “Gavin Newsom, Facing Recall, Announces New Stimulus Checks for 2/3 Californians.” Sounds quite similar to Dunbar and Constant’s recent votes to lift lockdown restrictions in order to help F.D. become mayor. The thought of losing power consumes them.
We have been out of town since 5 April. Had our mail forwarded via USPS website. We have received GCI election voting ballots and investment corporation voting ballots, in addition to other general mail. Have not receive Mayoral election voting ballots.
The lines should go fast today due to the fact there are only two choices…BRONSON OR BUST…
Mail in voting is cheating
End of Story
It’s shameful that in all of the MOA there are only three places to in person.
The MOA is obviously heavily invested in pushing the mail in voting, which everywhere in the country that it’s been instituted is rife with ballot fraud.
If people don’t think that the rules of the game are being applied fairly, they won’t play.
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