JUNEAU -- Alaskans are already voting in this year's hotly contested races.
Some ballots began returning even before voters had received the official election pamphlet or the extra supplemental pamphlet correcting the omission of independent candidate Bill Walker, or before Walker's election information was posted online.
Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said based on the timing of the mailings, she expects the voter pamphlet issue to have little effect on voters.
A federal law, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, gives extra time to vote absentee to those who may have difficulty getting completed ballots returned promptly. Those voters were mailed absentee ballots on Sept. 17 of this year.
That was on a Friday, and by the next Wednesday the first batch of a dozen completed ballots had already arrived at the state Elections Division. They've been coming back steadily since, with more than 1,900 back by Oct. 9, according to the division.
That indicates many may have filled out ballots without being able to view the voter pamphlet on paper or, in some cases, online. Those who knew to look for the omitted information could have found it on the Elections website, but only after Sept. 24.
The count of 1,900 ballots returned by Oct. 9 comes from a computer run of returned ballots done by the Elections Division for Alaska Dispatch News.
On Oct. 3 the main batch of absentee ballots was mailed, with the voter pamphlet that omitted Walker arriving soon thereafter.
A supplemental voter pamphlet arrived some days later containing the omitted information.
Walker has said he can't predict how many votes may have been affected but hopes the number is small and doesn't cast a "cloud" over the election.
Fenumiai said she believes that at most 260 absentee ballots may have been voted after receipt of the voter pamphlet that did not include Walker. That's the number of ballots received on Sept. 8-9.
An additional 757 ballots were received on Sept. 7. The first voter pamphlet arrived in the mail Monday, Oct. 6, with the supplemental pamphlet containing Walker's information arriving later in the week.
"It is extremely unfortunate that this issue occurred but the division worked to immediately rectify the situation. There were just a few days between the time voters received their initial pamphlet to when voters received the supplemental pamphlet," Fenumiai said in an email.
While Walker was originally left out, running mate Byron Mallott was listed appropriately as a non-affiliated candidate for lieutenant governor.
Fenumiai said about 28,000 absentee ballots were mailed out, but it's unclear how many of those will be eventually returned.
As of Monday, Oct. 20, Alaska voters will be able to begin voting early at state election offices, called voting "absentee at the polls."
Correction: This story has been updated to add clarification from Elections Director Gail Fenumiai about the timing of absentee ballots cast and received in relation to the timing of publication of voter information.