The Alaska Division of Elections Review Board says that the top reason that ballots were rejected during the special congressional primary election was due to missing witness signatures. Over 36% of the 7,489 ballots rejected were missing the witness signature. Another 26% had late postmarks, and 21% were missing an identifier.
For example, in District 12 Eagle River, 5,645 ballots were received, with 23 not having an identifier matching voter records, 2 ballots hand delivered after election day, 1 duplicate ballot, 1 empty ballot envelope, 44 with no identifier provided, 1 with registration inactive, 43 postmarked after Election Day, 1 voter not registered, 58 improper or insufficient witnessing and 10 that were unsigned by voters.
In District 39 Nome, 1,756 ballots were accepted, and 296 rejected. Of those rejected, 34 had an identifier that did not match voter records, 1 was a duplicate ballot, 45 had no identifier provided, 2 came from people who registered too late, 4 ballots were received too late, 174 had improper or insufficient witness signatures, 36 voters neglected to sign their ballot envelope.
The mail-in congressional special primary is part of the process for determining who will fill the remaining term of the late Congressman Don Young, who died March 18. Until that is decided by voters, Alaska is without representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The special general election for this seat is Aug. 16, at the same time the regular primary is conducted for House, Senate, Governor, and state House and Senate districts.
All the districts’ raw data on rejected ballots is contained in this PDF:
