The “ballot curing” process is under way, as 601 ballots have been rejected so far in the Anchorage Municipal Election that ended Tuesday, most of them due to failing the signature test at the Anchorage Municipal Election Office.
The rejected ballots are from every part of the municipality, including several from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. They do not seem to come from one specific area.
One of those rejected ballots was cast by Hunter Sulte, the son of Assembly District 6 candidate Randy Sulte who, at this point, is winning in his challenge to Assemblyman John Weddleton. Hunter Sulte is a goalie for the Portland Timber soccer team and is on tour in the midst of the team’s season. He’s unable to get back in time Anchorage to fix his ballot to the Clerk’s satisfaction. At at this point, count him among those who were disenfranchised of his vote.
Under the old absentee ballot process, Hunter could have requested an absentee ballot, and would have voted and mailed it in; that process would have ensured the ballot came from the proper voter.
As for the other 600 who were disenfranchised, they are supposed to get letters from the Clerk, who runs the Election Office, but if they are not home, they won’t know their ballot didn’t count. Those with shifts on the North Slope or who are traveling out of state might not even know their ballot was rejected.
Anchorage moved to an all-mail election system in 2017 and since then does not conduct regular polls, where people can show their driver’s license, sign a roster, and get a ballot from a human being. Now, ballots are mailed, and the voters must return them by mail or drop them in drop boxes around Anchorage. The process is cumbersome and the election stretches out for many weeks as a result.
During the election for Anchorage mayor last year, more than 400 ballots didn’t pass the signature test and the Bronson campaign team went about tracking down those voters to make sure they knew how to fix their ballots and resubmit them. Even then, some people’s ballots were rejected a second time.
Must Read Alaska wrote about problems with signature “curing” and voter disenfranchisement in this story last year:
The campaigns for several of the Assembly challengers are working through the list to make sure their voters are getting the message that they have to fix their ballot, and how to do so most efficiently.
It may seem like a small number, but with 46,000 votes in so far, it’s more than one out of every 100 voters who are not getting their ballots counted because their signatures don’t match with the one the election office has on file. More ballots are expected to arrive in coming days, and the number of rejected signatures will probably rise.
If you are wondering if your name is on the list of rejected ballots, Must Read Alaska has compiled a Google document — embedded below — with the first name and last initial, along with the zip code, for many of the ones we found were rejected. If you think you might be on that list, you can contact the author at [email protected] and I will check the full-name list.
