While there is no “Election Central” for the Anchorage Municipal Election that ends tonight, supporters of Christine Hill for Assembly and David Nees for School Board will be at the 907 Alehouse, starting at 7 pm to greet supporters and wait for election results to come in.
The Election Office started counting ballots at 10 am today, and will post the first count online tonight, at about 8:30-9 pm.
After that, election-watchers can call it a night, as updates won’t be done until Wednesday and will trickle in during the rest of the week. Ballots stamped by 11 pm tonight will be counted if they arrive at the Municipal Election Office by April 12.
As of Monday, about 40,500 Anchorage voters had cast a ballot in an election that determines five Assembly seats, two school board seats, and a host of taxes, including a controversial alcohol tax that is to help the homeless.
If it tracks similar to last year, another 10,00 will have come in by the deadline at 8 pm today. That means a turnout of about 50,000 voters, which tracks at what the turnout during the last non-mayoral election in 2017, which was 49,370.
That means the city is paying more for mail-in elections and may not be getting the turnout it hoped for.
The busiest site today was at the in-person voting site a the Loussac Library, where people were streaming in at about 200 per hour. It was a lot slower at Muldoon and the Anchorage School District voting site.
In-person voting was only available at limited locations today and those will be shut down at 8 pm. After that, voters can still get their ballots counted by taking them to the Airport Post Office before 11 pm, but you’ll need to make sure you get the postal worker to cancel the stamp on it in person.
As for areas turning out, Eagle River doubled its ballot turnout over the weekend, from 3,000 to about 6,000. Fairview and Mountain View have had weak turnout, as has East Anchorage, and South Anchorage is coming in strong for numbers of ballots turned in.
The ADN reported that the elections office on E. Ship Creek Avenue was serving as Election Central. I stopped by since it was on the way back from the work I was doing into the evening. I could have swore that they said it was going until 11:00pm, yet I arrived sometime before 10:00 and it was more or less a ghost town. Christopher Constant, Oliver Schiess and a police officer were all leaving as I walked in. That Haberman guy, or “the Boy who Cried Wolf” as the Frontiersman referred to him in 2016, came in following a Mad Zoo Burro assembly meeting. He appeared too bored to stick around, if that can be believed. I talked to some of the election workers and encountered another persistent problem with government: people who are being paid to sit around and tell everyone seeking information to go onto some website and get it. Considering that I can negotiate the web just fine, what purpose are these people serving? Anyway, I really miss the good old days of Election Central seeing everyone get rip-roaring drunk until 2 or 3 in the morning.
I’m sorry, but mail in voting makes voting a snooze. It loses it’s luster. It is bad for all parties. Too much opportunity for fraud. And, c’mon people – you can’t be citizen enough to make an effort to “go to the polls?” I think those that give their ballots thought and those that give a sh*t and research the issues make darn sure they get to the polls. This “disenfranchised” thing is a made up hoax. No one has been denied the right to vote in today’s society. Anyone can already absentee vote. If it is impossible to get to a polling place, you still can vote.
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I think voting should be made harder. You have to think and maybe get out of your moms basement. Learn how to read. Research issues. What a concept! Ok, I’ve left the blood in the water. Go ahead and attack!
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