Anchorage election officials think this year’s vote count will be faster and less fraught

Anchorage’s fifth vote-by-mail regular municipal election is underway and so far, more than 30,550 ballot envelopes have been received ahead of election day on Tuesday.

After last year’s mayoral election saw slow ballot counts and harassment of election officials, the city’s elections staff has made some changes aimed at helping this year’s election run more smoothly and mollifying skeptical campaigns.

So far, officials say the tense atmosphere that sometimes plagued the election center last year hasn’t materialized in this election.

The ballots received so far are only about 14.5% of the 210,000 ballots mailed to voters earlier this month, but elections officials say the number is on par with the number of ballots received at the same time before election day in prior years.

Voters will elect five Assembly members and two school board members and decide the fate of several municipal bond proposals totaling more than $45.6 million, and a school district bond proposal of more than $111 million. Typically, voter turnout is lower during election years without a mayoral race on the ballot or without a controversial proposition capturing voter attention.

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Election officials said that this year, they aren’t experiencing the same problems that resulted in an unusually low number of ballots included in the first round of preliminary election results on election day last year.

That left the mayoral race up in the air on election night, with little indication of the outcome.

Jamie Heinz, acting deputy clerk of elections, said she is not anticipating another abnormally low count on election day. A smoother ballot counting process this year is due, in large part, to recent updates to the city code that changed rules regarding election observers, she said.

The Assembly generally updates election code each year to improve the process, and passed the changes in December.

This year, observers were required to take a tour of the center and a city-provided training, among other changes.

Previously, training was up to campaigns, and last year there were many election observers at the elections center, sometimes leading to chaos for elections officials. Officials reported that they spent large amounts of time answering questions from the many observers and explaining processes, which slowed key parts of the ballot counting process. That partly contributed to the low vote count, among other issues.

“We think that the new code that requires a tour and training has helped tremendously,” Heinz said.

Observers are appointed by campaigns and candidates to watch the conduct of an election, including ballot processing.

The municipal clerk, in a report last year, described “disrespecting, harassing and threatening behavior” toward election officials by some election observers and members of the public. That report prompted some of the changes to rules for observers.

In another change, the clerk’s office has hired two observer liaisons, Dee Ennis and Ralph Duerre — retirees from the municipal attorney’s office.

The pair talk with observers throughout the day while ballot processing is underway, answering questions. Heinz and Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones also answer any questions the liaisons can’t answer during two to three scheduled meetings with the observers each day.

Duerre said said that his role has helped facilitate connection and communication between the observers and election workers, and helps to ease any concerns or misunderstandings that may arise.

“The more you know, the more you understand and the less tension you get,” he said.

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The elections center on Thursday afternoon was filled with the hum of sorting machines and election workers processing ballots. Observers talked quietly.

A large trailer was parked across the street from the elections center, a shared space between some of the campaigns, so observers can keep an eye on the center throughout the night, the liaisons said.

It wasn’t immediately clear which campaigns were using the trailer. Several observers at the center on Thursday declined to be interviewed.

Last year, Mayor Dave Bronson’s campaign parked an RV outside the elections center so his observers could monitor the center 24/7.

The elections center is livestreaming 24/7 this year, another change made to city code as part of an effort from to improve voter trust and election security, and one the mayor advocated for. Previously, livestreaming was only available primarily from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. while workers were in the elections center, though cameras recorded 24/7.

The city recently implemented a ballot tracking system that gives voters automatic update on the status of their ballot, also part of the effort to improve transparency and voter trust.

Bronson spoke out against many of the election code changes the city made this year, saying it reduces transparency of the election process. The code changes were largely technical, and several Assembly members disagreed with the mayor, saying the changes aren’t significant or restrictive to observers.

The mayor also proposed changing the city clerk’s position into an elected office, which would require a change to charter. The Assembly did not advance the proposal to this year’s ballot.

Several candidates for Assembly supported by the mayor have criticized the city’s vote-by-mail system, or called for the city to return to in-person voting.