10:30 pm update: 108,981 votes are counted of the expected 140,000 ballots.
9:30 pm update: With 48,736 67,650 ballots counted Saturday night in the special primary election that determines which four candidates will compete for the temporary congressional seat for Alaska, it looks like Sarah Palin is far in the lead, with Nick Begich following, and Al Gross in third place. Mary Peltola is in 4th place. The top four vote-getters will appear on a special general election ballot on Aug. 16, the same day as the regular primary election. Republicans got more than 57% 60% of the vote, while Democrats got 15% 26% of the vote, including Al Gross, a registered no-party candidate.
Some 587,174 ballots were mailed out to voters on April 27. With over 130,000 in, it appears 140,000 is the approximate number of ballots that can be expected. Over 60,000 ballots were returned to the division as undeliverable.
Palin and Begich dominate with over 50% of the vote.
The Division of Elections will release more results later tonight and on June 15, 17, and 21. Check back here.
Vote getters:
Sarah Palin: 32,371, 29.77%
Nick Begich: 20,994, 19.31%
Al Gross: 13,563, 12.47%
Mary Peltola: 8,101, 7.45%
Tara Sweeney: 5,712, 5.25%
Santa Claus: 4,864, 4.47%
Jeff Lowenfels: 4,195, 3.86%
Chris Constant: 3,805, 3.50%
Adam Wool: 1,675, 2.9%
John Coghill: 2,754, 2.53%
Josh Revak: 2,634, 2.42%
Emil Notti: 1,517, 1.40%
Andrew Halcro: 2,158, 1.98%
Check back for updates as we add data.
