The 2024 general election doesn’t end until 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, but Alaskans who choose to vote by mail are already requesting their ballots from the Division of Elections. Absentee voting started Sept. 20, with over 9,000 ballots mailed to voters who requested them that month.
Alaskans can also vote in person starting on Monday at 8 a.m. in most communities in Alaska.
To vote absentee by mail, you must request an absentee ballot no later than Oct. 26. You can do so at this Division of Elections link.
For early voting, you can vote absentee-in-person in nearly any city clerk’s office in Alaska. In many locations, you can vote an early ballot.
If the election facility is operated by Division of Elections, such as in major towns and cities, your vote will be counted as an early vote and included on the Nov. 5 count, as long as your vote has been cast by Nov. 1. That allows election workers to double check to make sure people have not voted twice.
If the voting center is not connected with Division of Elections, your vote will be an absentee-in-person vote that will counted after the election, when again, election workers will ensure you only voted once. This helps maintain election integrity.
As illustrated above, the Alaska Republican Party has sent out a get-out-the-vote mailer to its voters in House districts around the state with instructions on how to vote early by mail or absentee. Many voters in Alaska move in and out of the state often and absentee voting is a convenience to them, since they may not be in state on Election Day.
Remember, the Alaska Division of Elections does not use drop boxes.
You must mail your ballot or take it to your regional office or any voting location. The ballot is 17” and will require two “forever stamps” ($1.46) to mail to the division.
In 2022, 267,047 Alaskans had their ballots counted in the November general election. 54,433 of those were absentee ballots and 37,562 were early ballots, for a total of 91,995. That’s over 34% of the vote being cast absentee or early in the 2022 election.
“For early voting, you can vote absentee-in-person in nearly any city clerk’s office in Alaska. In many locations, you can vote an early ballot.”
Thank you for this information. The Division of Elections website only shows Absentee voting when I look for how to vote early in person. Appreciate this!
There is a air of fear floating around that the elections will be shut down before people get to vote. Anyone remember the words “fear-mongering” and how little they help a situation? I am not sure why Trump is now saying to vote early. I do not agree with it. I will be voting on election day in person with ID. If the polls are shut down, maybe this will be the time for the military to step in and open the polls back up so that people can vote. Then, maybe it will be the time for all of us who have learned how to hand count paper ballots to put our skills to use and hand count paper ballots with the military guarding the polling places?
The last thing we need is “the military” being involved in civilian affairs like the voting process. That pendulum swings both ways so be careful what you ask for. You can study history, or you can trust government. But you can’t do both.
AND just why are you saying you’re so against the military to provide a safe voting process if it IS needed/demanded?
Hi. To ensure you get the opportunity to vote, make sure you get to a polling station before 8pm. Polls are open from 7am to 8pm. I appreciate the information SD shared on this site. Polls will be open. There will be no craziness. It will be an exciting day to say the least. So, gear up with a hot coffee, and a sweet treat, head over to your polling place and take part in another historical event. Voting in America, whether you vote early, or by absentee ballot, or in person is a sacred civil duty. I voted once from Australia while on a vacay. Faxing back and forth. But, I made sure I voted.
Ginney, I used to be against early voting because I thought it gave the cheaters a way to count the votes and then illegally stuff in more ballots for their candidate that they wanted to win.
But lately when conservatives wait for Election Day to vote, they find that the polls are open, but there are no ballots to vote on. Then the division of elections starts making lame excuses for why there were no ballots — oh the printers stopped working and we couldn’t get it repaired in time, or we ran out of paper and the ballots must be printed on a specific paper that we don’t have and must special order it but it won’t be here for another two weeks!
This will be the first time ever that I will be voting early. In my most recent opinion EVERY conservative should vote early, even if it’s just a couple of days early.
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