Elections

All elections stories. (These stories are also categorized as “politics”.)

Alaska rejected more than 7,500 ballots in the US House special primary. Here’s why.

The biggest reason for rejections was a lack of a witness signature, accounting for more than a third of rejected ballots.
a woman in a meeting room talks into a microphone

Legislative aides call Anchorage Democratic Rep. Tarr’s behavior troubling

In a series of interviews, they describe a decade-old pattern of behavior.
a portrait of a woman

Alaska Supreme Court ruling keeps Sweeney off House ballot

The Alaska Supreme Court on Saturday upheld a lower court’s ruling that will keep Republican Tara Sweeney off the ballot for the August special election in Alaska’s U.S. House race.
An Alaska Native woman with gray hair and pearl earring

Lawsuit filed to keep congressional candidate Tara Sweeney in special election

The plaintiffs are Sunny Guerin, Vera Lincoln and Elizabeth Toovak. 
A white man in a gray suit

Alaska elections office says Eastman eligible to run despite Oath Keepers affiliation

The elections division received 24 timely filed challenges to Republican state Rep. David Eastman’s candidacy.

Tara Sweeney does not plan to sue to fill vacancy on US House ballot

“We made the decision that this is not a candidate fight,” Sweeney campaign manager Karina Waller said in an interview.
ballots go into a scanner

In Alaska’s first statewide by-mail vote, turnout was highest for a primary since 2014

Final preliminary results posted Tuesday night by the Alaska Division of Elections show 161,614 people voted in the special election for U.S. House, Alaska’s first statewide election by mail.
a woman in a green jacket

As last ballots arrive in Alaska’s special US House primary, Peltola inches upward

Peltola is up three percentage points since the first count June 11, suggesting her campaign may have picked up momentum as the postmark deadline neared, or that her supporters were, for whatever reason, late to the mailbox.
a person standing behind a podium

Gross, a top four candidate for US House, calls it quits

Al Gross is out, possibly allowing Tara Sweeney to advance in the special election.
a woman sits on a bench outside

Peltola keeps 4th place in latest US House ballot count

The AP has now called the race for Democrat Mary Peltola, too.
a man in a suit

Special election results prompt losing candidates to consider dropping out of regular US House election, too

Finishers outside the top four in the special primary are pondering dropping out of the regular election.
ballot and pen

About 1 in 8 rural Alaska ballots have been rejected in special primary, raising red flags with lawmakers

The rejection percentage varies starkly by region. In areas near Bethel, it’s the highest, at around 17%. That means about 1 in every 6 ballots were rejected — with the votes not counted.
four photos of four people

It’s still Palin, Begich, Gross and Peltola in Alaska US House race

If that order holds, those four will advance to the special general ballot in August.
two people voting

As a test, Alaska’s special US House primary may be too special

A by-mail special election may not be a true test of Alaska's new open primary
ballot and pen

Palin, Begich, Gross and Peltola are top 4 in early results from Alaska’s special US House election

The Division of Elections counted the first batch of ballots on Saturday night – 48,000 of the more than 125,000 ballots cast. Palin, a Republican, has about 33% of the votes counted so far. She’s followed by Nick Begich, also a Republican, who took 17% and independent Al Gross with 15%.
woman in print shirt greets another woman wearing a red cap.

Who will make the top four? US House candidates in Alaska have one more day to appeal to voters.

The special primary election for U.S. House ends Saturday, and it's still far from certain which candidates will move on to the general election in August.
White man in blue blazer

Nick Begich lent his campaign $650,000. Here’s why that makes ethics watchdogs shudder.

Post-election fundraising can look like "legalized bribery," critics say.