Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River put in a public records request with the Division of Elections on Thursday to get answers about why the ballots from rural Alaska were so delayed in being reported back to the division.
In a letter to Division Director Carol Beecher, Allard has asked for copies of all communications to and from, specifically, the 13 rural precincts that had not yet reported their results. At this writing, nine of those had finally reported back to the division, but had not done so by Thursday morning, two days after the election.
Allard is asking for all memos, text messages, emails, Microsoft Teams messages, and letters to and from the precincts and the Region IV office based in Nome, and headquarters.
After the election was over on Tuesday, there were 25 precincts that had delayed their reporting, and the division was, according to its sparse communication with the public, trying to reach them.
The division was successful resolving 15 of those precincts, but another 13 remained incommunicado, and little information has been released to the public about what is going on with missing ballots.
“The purpose of this records request is simple. It is now almost 48 hours since our state’s polls have closed, and we are no closer to having solid, reputable vote totals shared with the public,” Allard wrote. “While I fully recognize some of the unique aspects of our state in terms of size and geography, there is simply no excuse for the DOE to have yet to fully count our state’s vote and share those results with the public in a transparent manner.”
With Election Day now past, it has become increasingly clear that Alaska’s Division of Elections is still not fully up to the job, Allard said, adding, “Alaskans deserve transparency and expediency in their election results.”
In an addendum to her first request, Allard asked the Division to explain what happen to wasted ballots in those rural areas. Wasted ballots occur when people make mistakes and turn them in to get a new ballot. With ranked-choice voting, there is a greater tendency to make mistakes. What is unclear in these rural areas is if people were given new ballots, were the old ones destroyed, or mixed in and counted with the others?
Allard says the public deserves an answer because it’s the kind of condition that can lead to fraud.
It is unacceptable that for multiple administrations the Lt. Governor, whose sole statutory responsibility is elections has been AWOL! Voter rolls are a mess…dead people are sent ballots…election results are delayed on purpose. This is 3rd World!!!
How are dead people being sent ballots for State and Federal elections when one must apply to receive an absentee/mail in ballot?
Now if dead people are getting ballots for Anchorage elections or other mail in only elections, that is a problem
Not surprising that there is a particular focus on “Region IV office based in Nome”.
The potential of mixing in “wasted” ballots is very disturbing. The margins for Begich to reach 50% +1 on first round is tight.
Once it goes into the voodoo math, counted by questionable “officials” in subsequent “rounds” of counts, all bets are off.
Trump won Alaska, this is all about Peltola and the need for the Uniparty to use congress and a Senator Thune in the senate to obstruct a new Trump administration.
“Allard says the public deserves an answer because it’s the kind of condition that can lead to fraud.”
Good for her, because that is exactly correct.
In communities that small, after the polls closed, it should have taken an hour to count the ballots and report the results.
If the votes aren’t reported by midnight they don’t count. Plain and simple. Too bad so sad.
Then send the troopers out there to arrest the election officials for election interference.
I agree with you 100% John.
The first time I voted for Trump, an election official announced to a crowded room that I have for him, even before I left the building. Lol This was in Manokotak.
Amen!
And people wonder why some choose not to vote at all. So we found out who won the Presidential election the night of the election but here we are three freaking days after the election and still no results for our local elections.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!
What is the delay and secrecy? These elections have become a joke. It seems like there’s always somebody trying to pull some kind of shenanigans and keep something from the public. All these government officials work for the taxpayer and should be open and honest about what’s going on. This choice voting snafu is really screwing things up. The elections over if they don’t want to turn in their numbers didn’t go without them. This isn’t the first rodeo.
They were all trying to figure out how they could possibly justify swelling the voting rolls 500% in villages with populations of only 250. Fuzzy math brought to you by Mary Peltola’s dark money campaign. They’re still thinking.
I was also wondering if they are trying to shoehorn Peltoa in somehow.
No doubt. Its their last gasp, hoping the late fraud votes from the villages will save them. And only a racist will challenge this, of course.
Good ol state government where is do nothing Nancy at?? A village with a population of 200 going to turn in 3k ballots lol.
If I recall, AFN spoke out against repealing RCV.
All of these rural precincts withholding their results, in an apparently coordinated fashion, does have a bad smell to it, to say the least.
Simple Jamie. Because they are special and a protected class.
Short answer: The election judges at each precinct are supposed to count the ballots, call in the results and then mail the physical ballots. The officials got confused and didn’t count, they just mailed the ballots. Why? Some massive conspiracy? Are the folks in Wainwright trying to steal the election? No. These are part time folks just trying to be careful. They are likely scared of being accused of ballot tampering so they wanted to get them sealed up and on their way as soon as possible. Once they were told they were supposed to count, too late, already in the hands of the US Post Office. Come on folks, relax. Jamie knows this, too.
Jim, is this really what happened – at least at Wainwright?
Occam’s Razor.
Are that many election judges too stupid to do their jobs properly?
.
Were the judges so poorly trained, perhaps deliberately, that they couldn’t do their jobs properly?
.
No procedural manual for election judges exists or was given to them?
.
Election judges signed nothing, swore to nothing, that obligates them to comply with standardized reporting procedure?
.
Voters, not federal and state law-enforcement officials, must ask these questions?
.
Jamie knows this but shouldn’t ask, at least not out loud?
.
So much for the short answer, no?
All election workers are trained and have to sign an oath of office. When someone messes up a ballot, it is torn up in front of them, and placed in a special envelope which is given to the division of elections after so they can verify it is wasted. The ballots are numbered and strict control is taken to reconcile all ballots, (rather like reconciling a checkbook along with cancled checks). I am eagerly awaiting findingvout what happened here, because there is no room for skulldugery here.
They better not be in the hands of the UPS, as we won’t see them for two more weeks and probably in the wrong mailbox…
Do you have personal first hand knowledge of this? You would swear that your post is a factual accounting? Why are we hearing this from you and not the division of elections?
It’s entirely possible to be both incompetent AND corrupt
I say cut them off! Too late too bad! Albeit likely wouldn’t be allowed by state statute. There really needs to be an investigation. Are they scanning their voter rolls and filling in ballots in favor of Peltola? Needing some time to pass that one off…..? Seriously something is very wrong and someone(s) is/are responsible.
Kudos to Rep. Allard. These are exactly the right questions to be asking.
Further, where the h— is Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom? Elections are her responsibility. Is she on vacation? What the heck is going on.
I totally agree thank you Rep Allard for representing the people, we need answers and now. This is totally unacceptable and I smell fraud in the air. With today’s technology there is no excuse for taking this long.
The State Troopers should be involved to document the circumstances surrounding these errors and how DOJ Monitors interacted with Election Officials. Vote tabulators and certification must be documented independent of Division of Elections. We must have clarity
Kudos to Jamie Allard for encouraging a much-needed dialogue about our state divisions. Alaska has more state employees per capita than any other state in the nation, a point Ben Carpenter raised to the legislature, yet it fell on deaf ears. Alaskans must start demanding accountability from our Commissioners for their public service. While state employees play a crucial role, many are working from home while collecting a paycheck. In the upcoming session, we can expect their favored legislators to push for Defined Benefits (pensions), allowing them to continue drawing salaries while trying to influence the rest of us regarding the PFD. Carpenter has warned that the Dividend could disappear in just two years, and he’s been the sole watchdog advocating for our interests. Alaskans, now is the time to hold those making promises to you accountable!
Wonder if Rep. Allard has a contingency plan for the expected S&M* response from Department of Elections.
.
*Smoke & Mirrors
Good thing dems spent billions to provide high speed internet to rural communities. Now if we can only figure out how to communicate with those rural communities. 🤔
Just like O’Biden’s billions to build electric car charging stations for all those ECV’s on the road.🤔🙄
This is what happens when the Division of Elections is run by a hack. What next?
Problems getting out food stamps?
Oh, we already have problems with that operation too.
Any problems with payroll operations?
Why yes, there are.
Hmmmmmmm.
Is there a pattern here?
Could be. Or perhaps it’s just coincidence or bad luck.
Oh, you mean Nancy Dahlstrom, correct?
Joe, you may be on to something.
I was going to write a VERY large check of support. Not now. Zap my comment I wont support.
Why?
Lol. Bet you weren’t.
Every vote counts except when you’re a democrat and you disagree with the vote.
The delay is probably due to the Peltola operatives realizing Begich got more votes than they expected. And it took a couple of days to print extra ballots and bring them up from San Franciso and get them to the Bush. Gotta love the Bush where voter turnout is 300%.
In signing the register when I voted on Tuesday, I noticed people from another town on the list above my name. The election workers giddily told me that we have now centralized voting on the island so the people from other communities have to drive (~90 mile round trip) to our community to vote (or mail it in via our completely messed up float plane mail system). This is unbelievable. Is this happening across the state? The election judges seemed to think it was a decision made by the legislature. Taking Tuesday as an example, we had a gale force storm and these people were expected to drive a terrible gravel road for ~25 miles to a community over 45 miles away. Our community is NOT an island hub – we have no services or reason for these people to even come here. This seems a lot like the consolidation effort they did post 2016 to create the huge centralized vote centers that are causing all the problems now….taking people away from smaller locations where people know each other by sight and can more easily count their votes on time.
Alaska Statutes 15.10 addresses modification of precinct boundaries and gives that power to the Division of Elections director. The precinct boundaries themselves are defined in the Alaska Administrative Code.
Based on your description, I’m guessing you live on Prince of Wales Island? I did notice that most of the island was rolled into the Klawock precinct at some point.
Yes – Prince of Wales. They actually rolled Whale Pass into Coffman Cove. This needs to be reversed.
Sorry for the delay in responding. I saw what you were getting at in your reply. POWI was split between District 1 and District 2, as was Petersburg and Wrangell. I assume this was done to dilute the (likely Republican) voting power in each district by splitting historically unified constituencies.
In the case you’re referring to, Coffman Cove and Whale Pass were separated from the rest of the island and placed in District 1. Your specific complaint regards combining the two communities in a single precinct. It isn’t strictly limited to POWI; I think the Division was under pressure to combine precincts all over the state where they considered it practical (“they considered” being the operative term). In District 1, Ketchikan had eight precincts for many decades, whereas now it has three, with Schoenbar Hill and Carlanna Creek serving as the boundaries. This is just a guess, but I would say the Division reduced precincts to eliminate expenses involved in equipping and manning polling places, instead spending that money on technology and possibly also on permanent staff. I don’t know if there’s a public comment process before these decisions are made by the Division.
Wonder how much having to furnish ballots in 97 different languages has to do with it.
However, my gut tells me Princess Lisa’s financier’s are the root cause.
One possibility: they have to know the vote totals for Begich and Peltola before they can produce enough P-votes to keep Begich under 50%, so it is then able to be RCV’ed into her victory.
Ya this is and has been a re occurring issue in several states nation wide, something has gone drasticly wrong in our election process, there is clearly something going on in several states including Alaska. With todays communication ability , other then a natural disaster or something proven lugitament , there is absolutely no excuse for these shananigans to be going on time and time again, this is partly exactly how the Dems stole the National 2020 election. It use to be that This stuff has always been in bigger inter cities for decades, holding vote counts, waiting for other precincts to report, and the only real reason it’s being done anywhere is to see how many votes are needed to over come a deficit. This stuff has gotten completely over the top out of hand. All precincts State by State should be required to report their vote tally’s within the same time frame, seriuosly people, wake the hell up, when you know exactly how many ballots have been sent out, and how many have been returned by the DEaDlINES Previously set, there is really no excuse or Explanation other then FRUAD! Don’t make any Mistake about it people, we live in a time where nearly half the people are Willing to lie, cheat and steal any chance they get, it’s just a sad
Reality. This Nonsense seemed to really take off in the 2000, but in the last 20
Years plus, now it’s being done 10 fold, then 2012 to 2016 it all became common practice to play these games, and now even smaller precincts nationally are pulling these all over, mainly in blue states or swing districts…Washington State , Minnesota and Colorado are Totally corrupted now days, and look how long it’s taken for Nevada and Arizona to count their votes . That’s clearly exposing what’s going on behind the scenes. Our Elections Process has been totally corrupted in many places( but not all). Something needs to be changed , and the cheaters need to be held accountable !!!
Good for Jamie for asking the question. Now either we get an answer or someone in charge simply says, “Too bad, too sad. The train left and your handlers mishandled your ballots. None count.”
Maybe the division of elections hired ASD graduates where math scores are well below national standards.
I believe near the bottom of the barrel on a nationwide comparison.
When it becomes clear that multi-day delay is at hand, the Lt. Governor or designated election official should be on a Trooper helicopter or National Guard aircraft to each location where they personally pick up the results. Only those results that are available in short order should qualify to be counted. Otherwise, these regions are allowed to see the results, extend their voting period past the deadline, and increase the risk of fraud. Not to mention decrease public confidence in the process. Some of these places only have a few hundred votes at most. One person should be able to hand count them in an hour or two. If they cannot, then they should not be responsible for handling this sensitive material.
Dunleavy needs to fly home and fix this. According to the articles, they have the first choice numbers so release those and we will know for positive how ballot measure 2 went. Probably know all with first choice numbers releases.
Dunleavy has more important things to do… like opening an “immigrant “ employment office…..and Dahlstrom whose JOB it is to oversee our elections, is busy primping to replace him when he moves on. Dunleavy has overseen the destruction of this state…do an honest evaluation of how much worse it is and no, you can’t blame Covid, dark money, and the federal government for him not having a spine.
After the “hanging chad” debacle that the Floridiots put us through 24 years ago, THIS TIME they had the bulk of their votes tabulated AND REPORTED by 8:00 p.m. eastern. Only questioned ballots, provisional ballots, and mail ballots with ‘cure affidavits’ remain.
Maybe our next Lt. Governor should look at revamping our system to parallel what goes on in The Sunshine State. This one (Lt. Gov) doesn’t appear capable of thinking that clearly.
At this late date, it looks very much like someone is going to mysteriously find extra votes in a box somewhere. Come on, folks; turn in the results, so you don’t look so suspicious.
And a last minute switch on who handles elections up North?
FISHY AF
One week, and counting, after the election and we do not yet have the results of the house race! Time to start firing and jailing some people!
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