Volunteers operate an in-person polling place for the special U.S. House primary election on Friday, May 27, 2022, in the atrium of the State Office Building at Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
On Monday, Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich urged supporters to vote early and lock in their votes.
He followed his own advice this week, joining his wife and 19,999 other Alaskans who voted at the state’s early voting locations through Thursday, according to figures published Friday by the Alaska Division of Elections.
The pace of early voting on Monday and Tuesday — the first two days of early voting in the state — was faster than it was in 2020 or 2022, division director Carol Beecher said by email.
On Monday and Tuesday, 9,882 Alaskans presented their IDs and voted in person at early voting sites. During the first two days of early voting in 2022, 5,774 Alaskans voted early. In 2020, 7,592 did.
If early voting continues at the current pace, Beecher said, the state will set a record for early voting turnout. In 2020, the current record year, 53,229 Alaskans voted at early voting stations.
Begich isn’t the only Republican to have hit the polls early — figures published by the Alaska Division of Elections show a disproportionately high turnout of registered Republicans.
Through Thursday, 37% of early voters were registered Republicans. Among all registered voters, 24% are registered Republican.
In addition to the 20,001 votes cast through Thursday at early voting centers, absentee voters — who cast ballots by mail, fax or at remote locations where instant ID verification is not available for advance voting — have sent 19,586 ballots to the division so far.
Absentee votes submitted to the Division of Elections have disproportionately come from registered Democrats.
In November 2020, 361,400 Alaskans voted in the presidential election. The combined absentee and early turnout through Thursday this year is almost 11% of that total 2020 turnout.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, 193,813 Alaskans voted early or absentee, according to figures published by the Alaska Division of Elections. That remains the state’s record for both early and absentee voting.
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