Update: The Division of Elections posted another update on Wednesday afternoon, with 133,022 ballots total counted. The updated counts for the top four in the special primary for the congressional race are:
- Palin: 37,558, 28.30%
- Begich: 25,625, 19.31%
- Gross: 16,921, 12.75%
- Peltola: 11,560, 8.71%
Earlier story:
The Wednesday release of ballots counted by the Division of Elections in the race for Alaska’s congressional seat shows another approximately 18,400 ballots counted, for a total of 127,409.
Sarah Palin’s lead has been eroded slightly in the latest count. With 36,152 total votes, she is holding onto the lead at 28.44%, which is down about 1.4% from the election night total.
Nick Begich is holding steady with 24,696, or 19.43%, gaining slightly since election night.
Between the two front-runners, they have captured 48% of the total vote among the 48 candidates on the ballot.
Al Gross, a Democrat who is running without a party, now has 16,223 votes, also maintaining at 12.76% of the vote since election night. He maintains his third place position for the Aug. 16 special general election ballot.
Mary Peltola of Bethel increased her share to 10,904 votes, now at 8.58% of the total vote, an increase of more than a percentage over election night.
Tara Sweeney has slipped a bit in her percentages, with 6,915 total votes, or 5.25% of the total vote. Santa Claus kept 4.45%, and the other contenders not making up substantial ground.
There may be another 10,000-20,000 ballots to be counted, as ballots trickle in through the mail. The counting has been done in the chronological order the ballots were received, and thus, the later ballots are shifting slightly away from Palin and distributing through the other 47 names on the ballot.
Alaska held a mail-in special primary election because of the untimely death of Congressman Don Young and the need to get an Alaskan in place to fill the rest of his term until January, when the winner of the regular general election will be sworn in.
Begich yeah yeah that’s the winning ticket. ABSOLUTELY not get thee behind me satin we had ENOUGH evil. It’s SARA & KELLY time, the ladies of integrity will be just what the doctor ordered. Doctor oath integrity orders Sara & Kelly to the fight for of and absolutely by the people these ladies will show up for us.
According to ADN most of the ballots still left are in the anchorage area, including all ballots received after June 8th, while the rest of the state has finished counting all ballots after June 11t. Nick Begich is winning a significant amount of the precincts in Anchorage and Eagle River. Looks like Nick is going to gain significant ground in the last batch of votes.
Palin and Begich have been 50-50 in Anchorage.
I’ve exchanged several emails with the Begich campaign (Truman) for a yard sign. They have gone “radio silent” and no sign yet.
Does not seem like a well-oiled machine.
Go NB3!!! Show Sarah what completion means.
If Trump is really coming up for a rally, Begich won’t stand a chance against Palin. Unless ranked choice voting screws with us, Palin will win the general.
I think it would be awesome to attend but when Sarah speaks get up and leave!
Can a voter vote for just 2 candidates in August or will their ballot get tossed?
This is an excellent question! Also what if they only vote for one person 4 times? Maybe Suzanne could do a deep dive into how these type of ballots will be handled.
Considering Sarah’s popularity…I recall back in the day when the Democrats would jump ship during the primary and vote for the least electable Republican candidate to face their candidate in the general election. Recall C.R. Lewis 1974…
That said, what if the leftist are sandbagging the vote to insure that Sarah gets installed as Representative, at least for the interim period until the November General Election. If the scenario above is true the leftist know that their pals in the media will have a field day with an unrestrained camera hogging Sarah on steroids, grabbing every opportunity to spout off . After 6 weeks of Alaska’s A.O.C. THE electorate might feel less inclined to vote Sarah in for a full term.
Far fetched? Maybe, but do you really think Sarah has that much support? I mean, look where her contributions are coming from. Out of State.
Just a passing thought, but one to consider.
Hunter, you can vote for as many candidates as you want up to 4. If you only vote for 2, then just those 2 are counted.
Only vote for someone you can live with, if elected. Vote for the same person four times if necessary. The intentional foolery of our vote system needs to be delt with. These people want you to list the candidates from 1 to 4, I won’t comply.
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