Early voting for primary and special general election for congressional seat starts Monday across Alaska

The General Election may be 100 days away, but the Alaska primary election takes place on Aug. 16, and Alaska voting in-person locations open begin 15 days prior to each Election Day and remain open through Election Day. This year early voting starts on Monday.

During this primary election, there’s also a special general election on the reverse side of the ballot to determine who will serve out the rest of the late Congressman Don Young’s term in office.

The special general election ballot looks like this and will be on the back of every primary election ballot:

Early voting is similar to when a voters visits his or her polling place on Election Day. Their eligibility to vote in that election will be verified by the absentee voting official. The official will look up the voter’s name in the voter registration database to verify his or her registration is active and current. The official will print a voter certificate with your information that the voter will sign. Voters will then be given a ballot to vote that is dropped into a ballot box after voting.

Early voting is available at certain absentee voting locations that the division can establish a secure connection with the voter registration database system.

Early voting is available in Juneau, Homer, Soldotna, Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla, Fairbanks and Nome at designated locations.

For example:

• Fairbanks, early voting is at the Region III Election Office, 675 7th Avenue, Suite A2, from 8 am to 5 pm Aug. 1-15. All ballots, from House District 1-40, are available at that location.
• Palmer, early voting is at the Mat-Su Borough Building, 350 E Dahlia Avenue, from 8 am to 5 pm Aug. 1-15. Ballots for House Districts 25-30 (new district numbers) are available at that location.
• Soldotna, early voting is at the Soldotna Prep School, 426 W Redoubt Ave, from 9 am to 4 pm, Aug. 1-15. Ballots for House Districts 5-8 are available at that location.

There are many more places to vote, these are just examples. For a complete list of early voting and absentee voting locations, visit this Division of Elections list.

Absentee in-person is available at many locations throughout Alaska, and is done when there is no secure connection to the voter database to allow for in-person voting. When voting using this method, voters are asked for official identification (often a couple of electric bills address to the voter can do the job) and to complete the outside of an in-person voting envelope with their information. After voting your ballot, you will place it in a secrecy sleeve and then seal it inside the in-person voting envelope. The absentee voting official will mail your voted ballot to their assigned regional elections office. The ballot will be reviewed and processed by a bi-partisan review board.

It’s important to note that some early and in-person absentee voting locations will have all district ballots available, while others (typically the small communities) will have a single district ballot for that community.

Early votes cast through the Thursday before Aug. 16 Election Day will be counted on election night after 8 pm. All Early votes cast after that Thursday, Aug. 11, will be counted on the seventh day after Election Day. Some absentee ballots (mail, online, fax, in-person, special needs) will be counted Election Night after 8 pm.

Must Read Alaska will have an election night livestream on Facebook starting at 8 pm, with analysis and results as they come in. We will have a roster of election experts, candidates, and activists who will discuss what unfolds on election night and what may be expected in the months leading up to Nov. 8. Hit the follow button on the Must Read Alaska page so the evening broadcast will pop up in your Facebook feed.

To learn about how ranked choice voting will work for the special general election, which will be on the reverse side of the primary ballot, consider attending this seminar by Americans for Prosperity Alaska: