Alaskans lined up like never before to vote early in this year’s general election.
More than 100,000 Alaskans had already voted by Monday morning. That includes early in-person voters, who have exceeded the record the state set in 2020, by about 9,000 votes.
Some Anchorage voters were so eager to cast ballots on Monday at lunchtime that they stood in a line that stretched around the outside of the Division of Elections headquarters in Midtown.
Kimberly Hazel waited over an hour to vote, and said her husband waited even longer on Sunday. Hazel didn’t mind. She said she’d never voted early before, but this year felt different.
“Just the thrill of just being part of something that’s so massive – regardless of you know, whoever you’re supporting, it’s huge, right?” she said. “This is, like, one of the most important elections that we’ve had in a very long time. Everyone’s feeling that.”
Some voters reported finding shorter lines at City Hall downtown.
Waiting in line wasn’t the only option to vote early. More than 37,000 people voted by mail.
The line was long but orderly at the Gambell Street location Monday. Election worker Elizabeth Schafer directed people to the tail end of it.
“Once you even get in the doors, we have about another 40 or 50 people looped into a room,” she warned the crowd. “So from this point, we’re looking at an easy hour (and) 45 minute wait from this corner.”
No voters appeared deterred by that prediction.
“Well, I want to vote,” one woman said. “Tomorrow it’s going to snow.”
One man, a doctor taking his lunch break, asked Schafer about voting hours on Election Day.
“All the precincts, as well as the early voting, will be open at 7 a.m.” she said. “So they will be open 7 to 8 p.m. If you’re in line at 8 p.m. – or today, if you’re in line at 5 p.m. — you’ll be able to stay in line and come in the door and get processed.”
Schafer couldn’t predict what the lines in the precincts would be like on Election Day, but she thought the Gambell location, where voters can get a ballot for any House district, would be less busy than it was in the days prior.
In Anchorage, two additional voting stations will have ballots for all 40 House Districts on Election Day. They are the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and the University of Alaska Anchorage Student Union.
RELATED: Election Day is Tuesday. Here’s what to know about voting.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
