This photo shows elections materials for Alaska’s 2022 special primary election. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

This photo shows elections materials for Alaska’s 2022 special primary election. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

In-person voting begins for Alaska’s special primary election for US House

Forty-eight candidates are on the ballot for the special primary

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Voting opened Friday at almost 170 locations statewide for the special primary election to temporarily replace Congressman Don Young, who died in March after 49 years in office.

Forty-eight candidates are on the ballot for the special primary. The four who receive the most votes will advance to a special general election on Aug. 16. At that election, voters will be asked to rank their preferred choices from one through four.

The winner of the special election will serve from September through January, when the winner of the November general election will be seated.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Because the special election is being conducted on a short timeline, the state made it Alaska’s first-ever statewide election by mail. The Alaska Division of Elections sent more than 560,000 ballots to registered voters in late April, and many have been returned.

According to statistics published Friday by the division, more than 51,000 ballots have been flagged as undeliverable, possibly because the registered voter no longer lives at the address on file.

That figure is an estimate; division officials said they won’t have a precise figure until after the election.

As of Friday evening, 89,237 of the mailed-out ballots had been voted and returned, and the first day of in-person voting resulted in 258 ballots cast.

Election Day is two weeks away, but turnout is already above the number of ballots cast in the August 2016 statewide primary, which saw 88,817 votes. In the 2020 primary, more than 133,000 registered voters cast ballots, and in 2018, the most recent non-presidential primary year, voters cast 115,727 ballots.

In 2020, Democratic voters overwhelmingly preferred voting by mail. Republicans preferred voting on Election Day in person.

In the current election, turnout to date has been highest in Republican-leaning parts of the state.

Republican-leaning areas in Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula have the highest ballot return rates, while traditionally Democratic locations in Southeast Alaska and Anchorage are average or slightly below.

The lowest return rates have been in rural Alaska, particularly in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and on the North Slope.

Ballots must be cast by June 11 and must arrive at the Division of Elections no later than June 21 in order to be counted.

A preliminary result will be announced on the evening of June 11, and updated periodically until June 21, when a final tally will be provided.

That figure will be checked and certified, opening the race to the special general election on Aug. 16. That election will be Alaska’s first ranked-choice vote.

James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.

More in News

Christine Cunningham, left, and Mary Bondurant, right, both members of the Kenai Bronze Bear Sculpture Working Group, stand for a photo with Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel and a small model of the proposed sculpture during a luncheon hosted by the Kenai Chamber of Commerce in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Model of bronze bears debuted as airport display project seeks continued funding

The sculpture, intended for the airport exterior, will feature a mother bear and two cubs.

The Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht Campus on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninula Clarion)
State board approves Tułen Charter School

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will be able to open their charter school this fall.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Homer Middle School teacher arrested on charges of sexual assault and burglary

Charles Kent Rininger, 38, was arrested March 12 by Alaska State Troopers.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski raises her right hand to demonstrate the oath she took while answering a question about her responsibility to defend the U.S. Constitution during her annual address to the Alaska Legislature on March 18, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Murkowski embraces many of Trump’s goals, but questions his methods

Senator addresses flood concerns, federal firings, Medicaid worries in annual speech to Legislature.

Cemre Akgul of Turkey, center left, and Flokarta Hoxha of Kosovo, center right, stand for a photo with members of their host family, Casady and Patrick Herding, at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Photo provided by Patrick Herding)
International students get the Alaska experience

Students to share their experiences visiting the Kenai Peninsula at a fundraiser dinner on Sunday.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Proposal to use beach seines in commercial fishery killed

The board amended the proposal to remove setnets from the east side setnet fishery before the motion failed 3-3.

An aerial photograph shows the area where the new Seward Cruise Ship Terminal will be constructed. (Screenshot/Seward Company image)
Work begins on new Seward cruise ship terminal

Work has begun at the site of the new cruise ship terminal… Continue reading

The Tlingit and Haida Elders Group performs the entrance dance at the 89th annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Trump rescinds Biden executive order expanding tribal sovereignty and self-governance

Order giving Natives more access to federal funds cited in awarding of major Southeast Alaska projects.

‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates, Raye Lankford, X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Rochelle Adams pose with the Children’s and Family Emmy Award award Lankford and Twitchell won for co-writing the an episode of the PBS animated children’s show “Molly of Denali.” (Photo courtesy of ‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates)
‘Molly of Denali’ episode wins best writing honor at 2025 Children’s and Family Emmy Awards

First Emmy win for animated PBS show goes to episode co-writers X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Raye Lankford.

Most Read