Alaska election results will start posting online between 8:45 and 9 p.m. Alaska Time on Election Night, after polls open Tuesday at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. The first batch will include votes cast at the polls, early votes cast before Friday and some absentee ballots.
Steve Kirch of the Division of Elections said the office will keep posting raw data on Nov. 10, Nov. 13 and Nov. 18. Election officials plan to certify the election by Nov. 25, but the public count will keep changing before then as more ballots arrive and are processed.
Division of Elections timeline
Kirch said the first scheduled update on Nov. 10 is expected to include almost all of the early vote and a large batch of absentee ballots mostly from off the road system. By Nov. 13, nearly all ballots should be counted. The last remaining votes will be included in the final unofficial update on Nov. 18.
In 131 of the state’s more than 400 precincts, election workers count ballots by hand and read the results over the phone to regional offices. Overseas absentee ballots can arrive as many as 15 days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3, which stretches the count well beyond Tuesday night.
Burke Croft on Alaska count
Burke Croft, a consultant with Ship Creek Group, said, “The No. 1 biggest thing that characterizes so much of Alaska's elections is just the state’s size and the unique logistical challenges that come with that.” He added, “In elections past, we've seen shifts as large as four or so points.”
“So we can expect some amount of uncertainty as results come in after Election Day,” Croft said. Election Night results tend to represent around 70% of the overall vote, which means early leads can narrow or reverse as later ballots are added.
Nov. 18 tabulation
The Division of Elections will officially tabulate voters’ choices until Nov. 18, and ranked choice voting will matter in any race where no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. That leaves close contests dependent on later updates, not the first return posted Tuesday night.
For candidates and voters, the immediate takeaway is simple: the first numbers are only a partial count, and the race may not settle until the final unofficial update on Nov. 18.
