The U.S. Postal Service is advising absentee voters to get their ballots in the mail as soon as possible if they want them to be counted.
“We continue to recommend that it is a good common-sense measure for voters who choose to mail in their ballots to do so before Election Day and at least a week before their election office needs to receive them. If a ballot is due on Election Day, the Postal Service recommends mailing the ballot by this Tuesday (October 29),” the agency said in a written statement on Monday.
Alaska’s absentee ballots can arrive up to 10 days after Election Day (for ballots mailed within the state) and 15 days after (for ballots mailed internationally), but only if the ballot was postmarked on or before Election Day.
In Alaska, most mail is automatically postmarked in Anchorage or Juneau, so a ballot mailed elsewhere in the state may not be postmarked for several days.
Mail your ballot early, or go inside a local post office and ask to have it postmarked by hand if you’re mailing it close to Election Day. You’ll need to have two stamps because of the weight of the ballot. The state doesn’t pay return postage.
Under Alaska law, anyone can vote absentee for any reason, but a voter has to request a ballot first. Unlike the municipal elections in Anchorage and Juneau, blank ballots are not automatically mailed to all voters.
The deadline for requesting a blank ballot by mail was last week, but voters can still download and print a blank ballot to be mailed.
The state does operate dozens of early voting and absentee-in-person locations where you can vote in advance of Election Day instead of risking the mail.
If you want to avoid the mail but still vote from home, you can vote by fax, submitting your ballot electronically.
Yes, we know that fax machines are practically nonexistent, but many smartphones have fax apps that allow you to scan and send documents securely.
For new voters, the deadline to register normally has passed, but federal law will allow you to register and vote in the state’s federal elections only.