01-04-2025
Ahead of Tuesday deadline, Anchorage ballot returns are on pace with recent municipal elections
Mar. 31—Anchorage voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballots to be counted in this year's municipal election.
As of Monday morning, election officials had processed close to 30,000 ballots. Municipal Clerk Jamie Heinz, who is overseeing the city's vote count, said those numbers track closely with returns at this stage in other recent local elections.
"It is right on par with 2019, 2022 and 2023," Heinz said.
The tally includes ballots received through Friday. Over the weekend, Heinz said, drop boxes across the city received a surge of ballots. Those close-to-the-wire upswings ahead of the Tuesday deadline have become normal in the years since Anchorage first switched to a vote-by-mail election system in 2018.
In 2023, the last citywide election without the mayorship on the ballot, 65,853 people voted, a turnout rate just under 30%, which is typical for Anchorage in non-mayoral years.
The first batch of returns will be published Tuesday evening, "likely around 8:30 p.m.," Heinz wrote in an email.
Those results will include ballots received through this past weekend and a portion of those received on Monday, according to Heinz. Though they will offer clear signs of who is likely to win in a given race, results will continue trickling in for days as late-arriving ballots are processed and will not be considered final until certified by the Anchorage Assembly. Results rarely change in the days following initial returns, but gaps between candidates can narrow, and in narrow races, candidates might swap the advantage as more ballots are tallied.
Heinz said the city expects to post new results each day "for the remainder of the week after 4:45 p.m. but before 5:15 p.m.," and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday the following week.
Residents will determine six of the 12 seats on the Anchorage Assembly, as well as two Anchorage School Board members. There are 11 bond measure and tax levies, as well, related to everything from school construction projects to public safety vehicles.
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Ballot envelopes can be returned by mail, at secure drop boxes across the municipality, or in person. Residents with lost or damaged ballots, or who wish to cast their vote in person, can do so at three Anchorage Vote Centers, located in City Hall, at the Loussac Library or in the Eagle River Town Center.
Ballot envelopes returned by mail need a first-class stamp, and at this point in the election, officials recommend bringing them to a post office to be hand-canceled since ballots must be postmarked on or before election day.
