Alaska election results for the highly contested campaign, Republican Nick Begich is just a hair’s breadth away from winning by defeating Rep. Mary Peltola. The Alaska division of elections increased the number of votes by more than 38,000 on Tuesday evening. Peltola was unable to make a substantial difference despite this. Begich’s lead grew from 10,133 votes to 9,550 votes.
Preliminary estimates from the Divisions of Elections suggest that the new tally roughly covers about four-sevenths of the remaining uncounted ballots. Carol Beecher, the division director, indicated that these ballots included a mix of absentee early and questioned votes but did not provide a specific count of ballots.
Begich currently holds 49.1% of the total vote, which is less than the number required to avoid a ranked-choice tabulation on November 20. To overtake Begich, Peltola would require more than 80% of the second-hand-choice votes cast by supporters of Democratic candidate Eric Hafner and Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe.
The new Alaska election results also provided other statewide conclusions for the election. Ballot measure 2, which seeks to repeal Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice election system, leads by 2,841 votes, a drop from its previous lead of 4,137 votes on Friday. Ballot number 1, which proposes increasing the minimum wage, mandating sick leave, and stopping political and religious meetings at work, remains ahead by a comfortable margin.
Tuesday count also reshaped some local legislative races. Republican David Nelson is 19 votes ahead of democratic incumbent Rep. Cliff Groh in Anchorage House District 18. After counting over 2000 ballots, incumbent Sen. Scott Kawasaki in Fairbanks Senate District P increased his lead over Leslie Hajdukovich. Atqasuk on the North slope has yet to release its results. 402 of Alaska’s 403 polling stations have already released their results.
This news article was originally published by Alaska Beacon.
