State election officials said first unofficial results of those who voted in person early or on Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Alaska’s 2020 statewide primary election would be posted after the polls closed, but the target date for certification of the election will be Aug. 30.
The later date for certification is necessary because the posting of results from thousands of absentee ballots will not begin until Aug. 25, Tiffany Montemayor, public relations manager for the Division of Elections, said on Monday, Aug. 17.
The state sent out nearly 54,000 absentee ballots requested for this year’s primary election and 28,317 of those ballots had been filled out and returned by Aug. 17, Montemayor said.
In 2016, the state Division of Elections received requests for a total of 8,715 absentee ballots for the general election in November, she said.
While the actual counting of those absentee ballots has not yet begun, election officials are busy verifying the voter history of each person who submitted an absentee ballot, to be sure that individual is qualified to vote in the primary election. Each absentee ballot will also be checked against the list of those who voted in person before or on election day, to be sure no resident’s vote is counted twice, she said.
