Alaskans need $1.46 of postage on by-mail ballots, and other how-to-vote tips as early voting starts Monday

Alaskans voting by mail will need $1.46 of postage on by-mail ballots to send them back by post to the Division of Elections.

Voters will need to use two forever stamps, which cost 73 cents each. But the United States Postal Service will still deliver ballots even if postage is unpaid or if there is insufficient postage on ballot envelopes.

The ballot envelope sent to Alaskans voting by mail states that first-class postage is required, but not how much. The Division of Elections said the amount of postage is not specified on ballot envelopes because they are bulk printed and used in several elections.

At least 19 states pay for postage for by-mail ballots. But Alaska is not one of them. The Legislature would need to approve that funding, state election officials said.

For overseas and military voters, it’s a different story. Postage is already paid by the federal government.

Absentee voting tips

By-mail ballots are automatically sent to Anchorage and Juneau voters for municipal elections, but that does not occur for state elections.

Alaskans who want to vote by mail can apply online for an absentee ballot, for any reason. The deadline to apply for a by-mail ballot is Oct. 26.

Alaskans can also apply for an absentee ballot to be delivered by email or by fax. Instructions to vote that way are posted on the Division of Elections website.

With concerns about potential mail delays, the division recommends returning absentee ballots as soon as possible.

By-mail voting has long been popular in Alaska. Around 41,000 Alaskans cast a ballot by mail for the 2022 general election. But there are some important requirements to remember to ensure those ballots are counted:

• Alaska voters need to have their absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, Nov. 5, to be counted.

• The division recommends voters return their ballots early, and get them hand-stamped at a post office. Absentee ballots need be received by the division within 10 days of the election if they are mailed in Alaska.

• Voters need to sign their ballot envelope, and use an identifier such as a driver’s license or a birth date. A witness over the age of 18 must watch the voter sign the ballot envelope and then sign it themselves.

• In 2022, USPS enacted a rule that means postal workers are forbidden from signing absentee ballots as witnesses while on duty. That prohibition is still in effect.

The Division of Elections has no method to verify witness signatures against a database, but absentee ballots will not be counted if a signature or the voter ID is missing.

Around 7,500 ballots were rejected from Alaska’s first all by-mail election in 2022, with a disproportionate number coming from rural Alaska. Two-thirds of those rejected ballots were for mistakes made on ballot envelopes.

Alaskans can track their by-mail ballot online using BallotTrax to see when it is received by the division. But Alaska voters cannot fix mistakes on absentee ballots once they are sent in, which is called “ballot curing.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, two-thirds of states require that voters be given an opportunity to cure their ballots. The Alaska Legislature has debated measures in recent years to allow ballot curing and to eliminate the state’s witness signature requirement, but none have been approved.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Division of Elections partnered with the Municipality of Anchorage to use its ballot drop boxes for the 2020 general election. But those drop boxes will not be used this year.

Alaskans can drop off their absentee ballots in person at five regional Division of Elections offices in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, Nome and Wasilla.

Ballots can also be dropped off at dozens of absentee in-person voting locations across Alaska that are open from Oct. 21 through Election Day.

Early voting starts Oct. 21

Early voting and absentee in-person voting starts on Monday, and will be available until Election Day.

Voting locations will be open in communities across the state. Hours of operation and locations are available at the division’s website.

Polls will open on Election Day, Nov. 5, at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

To cast a ballot in person, voters will need to bring a form of ID — a voter registration card, driver’s license, or other document that lists their name and address.

Special needs voting is available for Alaskans who are unable to visit polling locations in person due to age, disability or illness. Those voters can get someone to pick up their ballot and deliver it for them. Instructions for special needs voting are available online.

Ranked choice voting tips

Alaskans will use ranked choice voting again in the 2024 general election. It will be first time the voting method has been used for a presidential election in Alaska.

Under Alaska’s open primary system, the top four vote-getters, regardless of political affiliation, advance to the general election.

Alaska’s top-four primary system does not apply to candidates for president. As a result, Alaskans will be able to rank up to eight presidential candidates.

For the remaining races on the ballot, voters can rank up to four candidates if they choose to do so.

If no candidate gets more than half the first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to the other candidates based on their supporters’ second-choice votes. That process is repeated until one candidate has a clear majority.

[The last in-person vote in the US will be cast on Alaska’s Adak Island]

What’s on the ballot?

The Division of Elections mails an official pamphlet each election year to all Alaskans, providing biographical information about candidates and details on how to vote.

There will be eight presidential tickets on the top of Alaska’s general election ballot.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear as an independent. He dropped out in August and endorsed former President Donald Trump. But his campaign failed to have his name removed from the Alaska ballot.

Alaska’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives will be on the ballot with four candidates. With Republicans having a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House, the race has attracted record Outside donations.

All 40 seats in the Alaska House of Representatives will be on the ballot. Ten of 20 state Senate seats will also be on the ballot, which means roughly half of Alaska voters will not cast a ballot for a state Senate candidate this year.

Alaska voters will see two initiatives on the ballot. One would repeal the state’s ranked choice voting and open primary system, which itself was narrowly approved by voters through an initiative in 2020.

The second ballot measure would boost the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour over three years, and guarantee sick leave for Alaska workers for the first time. The initiative would also prohibit employers from requiring their employees to attend political meetings, which can be sometimes used to dissuade them from unionizing.

Nineteen state judges are up for retention votes in 2024. The Alaska Judicial Council provides information about those judges, and performance evaluations based on a poll of attorneys, court employees and law enforcement officers.

The 2024 general election ballot in Alaska will be double-sided. On the first side are the presidential tickets, and state legislative races. On the second side will be the ballot measures and state judges.

The Division of Elections said the 17-inch ballot was designed with “several considerations” in mind.

“One consideration is ensuring that the ovals on one side of the ballot do not line up with ovals on the back side of the ballot,” said Michaela Thompson, division operations manager at the Division of Elections. “It is designed this way in case pen ink bleeds through the paper, so it doesn’t impact races/ovals on the other side of the ballot.”

Results and no live tabulation

Some unofficial results will be released on the night of the election, but they may not give a clear indication who won each race.

Voters’ first choices will be tabulated and announced on the night of Nov. 5. But the division decided to conduct the ranked-choice tabulation process once it had received all absentee ballots, which can be counted if they arrive from overseas 15 days after the election.

Two years ago, the Division of Elections hosted a livestream to show the tabulation process for races that had no candidate with a clear majority. Results for 12 races were unveiled live online.

In the 32-minute livestream, former elections director Gail Fenumiai explained how voters’ choices were redistributed in each tabulation round, and which candidate won their respective races.

Fenumiai said in 2022 that the livestream process was used to be “as transparent as possible.”

This year, the Division of Elections said there will be no livestream of the tabulation process. Instead, ranked choice voting results will be posted on the division’s website on Nov. 20.

“The livestream happened in 2022 because it was the first year of (ranked choice voting) to help with the initial understanding of process,” Thompson said.

Election results are unofficial until they are certified by the State Review Board. The target date to certify results is Nov. 30.