A week after ballots were put in the mail to Anchorage voters, the Anchorage Election Office reports on March 21 that only 19 people have cast their ballots in the March 15-April 5 Anchorage election. The ballots were delivered to a post office on March 15 from a printer in Washington state.
Multiple reports from over the weekend came in to Must Read Alaska from campaign volunteers who were door-knocking to remind people to vote. Voters they spoke with reported they have not seen any ballot yet.
Now, Must Read Alaska has learned that as many as 15,000 ballots are stuck in a post office in Everett, Washington.
35,000 ballots have left that post office in Washington, according to our source. As of Friday, only six ballots had been received by the Anchorage Election Office. This means an unknown number of people have simply not received a ballot.
All ballots in the Anchorage mail-in only election must be cast by April 5, the final day of the election.
In 2017, the Anchorage Assembly, without asking for a vote of the people, moved the voting process to mail-in only, adding millions of dollars to the annual election process. By the Assembly’s ordinance, the ballots had to be sent to voters by March 15 this year, but apparently are stuck in Washington, where they are printed.
This story is developing. Check back for more updates.
