Republican Nick Begich III maintained his lead over Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola after the Division of Elections posted an updated results tally late Tuesday night.
Begich now has about 49% of first-place votes to Peltola’s nearly 46%. That’s a difference of nearly 10,000 votes. If neither of the candidates win more than 50% of first-place votes once all valid ballots are counted, the winner will be determined by ranked choice tabulation on Nov. 20.
Meanwhile, a ballot measure to repeal the state’s open primary and ranked choice voting system remains on track to pass. Though thousands of ballots remain to be counted, yes votes outnumber noes by more than 2,800 votes. That’s a margin of 1 percentage point.
The Alaska Division of Elections is expected to release at least two more result updates: one on Nov. 15 and another on Nov. 20. Tuesday’s included roughly 38,000 new ballots, mostly absentee, early and questioned ballots, plus votes from one Election Day precinct in rural Alaska that had not previously reported its tally. It’s the first large batch of ballots to be added after Election Day as officials process and count votes from within the state and around the world.
The updated results also provide some insight on some key races for state Legislature. The leaders in all races remain unchanged.
Fairbanks Sen. Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat, has increased his lead over Republican challenger Leslie Hajdukovich to more than 350 votes.
And in two key Anchorage House races, Democrats continue to lead. In North Muldoon, challenger Ted Eischeid has widened his margin over incumbent Republican Rep. Stanley Wright to 198 votes. Government Hill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Rep. Cliff Groh leads by a razor-thin margin, outpacing challenger David Nelson by just 19 votes.
Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman continues to trail fellow Republican challenger Jubilee Underwood. Underwood leads by 216 votes.
The results are expected to strengthen the House and Senate’s bipartisan coalitions. Shortly after Election Day, prospective leaders in each chamber announced they’d secured enough seats to form a majority. The House’s leadership would flip from a Republican-led coalition to a mostly-Democratic caucus led by new Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham.
It’s not the final word on the election. Alaska’s vote-counting process is slow. That’s due in part to the long window for absentee votes to arrive.
The count now includes nearly 48,000 absentee votes and nearly 69,000 early votes, plus more than 3,800 questioned ballots, which are cast largely by voters who show up at the wrong precinct on Election Day.
How many votes remained to be counted was not immediately clear Tuesday night. The Division of Elections issued nearly 60,000 absentee ballots, and nearly 14,000 had not arrived by Tuesday.
Final counts aren’t expected until Nov. 20, which is the last day for ballots to arrive from overseas. And even then, the winners won’t be official until the Division of Elections completes error-checking and other post-election procedures. State officials plan to certify the election Nov. 30.