The City and Borough of Juneau says that about 1% of the ballots mailed to voters were involved in a technical glitch that led to duplicate ballots being mailed to voters. The local election ends on Oct. 1. Ballots were mailed Sept. 12.
It’s unclear why the city believes it’s 1%. In fact, about 600 voters got duplicated ballots, far more than 1%. Some 27,767 people were registered to vote last year during the local election that saw a turnout of 9,137, or less than 33%. That’s over 2% of registered voters or 6.5% of those who actually voted.
“Some people who voted a questioned ballot in the State Primary Election or updated their voter registration between 8/23/24 and 9/1/24 may receive two ballots in the mail. Those people should vote one ballot and destroy the other,” the city in a statement.
The municipal election division says there are protocols in place to ensure that each voter casts a single vote.
“Upon return, only one ballot envelope from any voter is accepted – the first one received. Others are rejected,” the announcement said.
“CBJ Elections knows how this glitch occurred and has taken steps to ensure it does not happen in future elections. Thank you to everyone who called with questions and thank you for voting,” the city said.
Juneau started voting by mail, copying Anchorage’s lead in mailing ballots to all registered voters in the city and borough; the change was initiated in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. In 2023, vote by mail became the default method for voting, after a change in the local election code made by the Juneau Assembly.
It’s an example of government taking something that was working well and making it work poorly, said one voter, who added, “Once lost, confidence of the public is very difficult to regain.”
For official information from the Juneau government, go to juneau.org/clerk/elections.
