No ballot dropboxes for upcoming general election

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - With the Nov. 5 election weeks away — which will include the presidential race — Alaska Division of Elections leaders are offering a reminder that despite the access of ballot dropboxes in 2020, officials confirmed last week that the program is not being continued.

Department of Elections Region II Supervisor Jeffrey Congdon said dropboxes were borrowed from Anchorage in 2020 as a COVID mitigation plan.

“They deployed those Municipality of Anchorage dropboxes throughout the road system, in the Fairbanks and Wasilla area, and throughout the municipality of Anchorage,” Congdon said. “Alaska statutes don’t give Alaska the authority to utilize dropboxes, and there’s quite a bit of logistics that go into using dropboxes. The state of Alaska does not, for any other election, use drop boxes.”

Since Alaska is not a vote-by-mail state, Congdon explained this can often create confusion in places such as Anchorage and Juneau that allow vote-by-mail in municipal elections.

“All of the registered voters in those jurisdictions vote by mail for the municipal elections,” Congdon said. “The State of Alaska does not do that. [In the] State of Alaska, in order to vote absentee by mail, you have to apply, and so it’s a much much smaller percentage of voters who are voting by mail.”

Congdon said voters can drop off absentee-by-mail ballots at any regional office or polling place. For those looking to mail-in ballots, due to size, two “forever” stamps will be required at the cost of $1.46 each.

For anyone looking to vote in person, election offices are located in Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Nome, Wasilla and Kenai. Additional information can be accessed at elections.alaska.gov.

Congdon added that early voting hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays up through the election.

“Election Day, all the region offices for the early vote sites will be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., the same hours as the polls,” Congdon said. “Each region has additional early vote sites. For many, many regions have additional early vote sites or absentee voting sites.

Voters are able to drop off ballots at early voting as well as absentee voting locations and polling locations on Election Day. Voting by mail is an option, provided the absentee ballots are requested.

Congdon said the deadline to have blank ballots mailed out is Oct. 26. Additionally, ballots can be downloaded and printed by Nov. 4.

They cannot be emailed, but they can be faxed, mailed or dropped off at any of the election offices.

Congdon said he encourages people to send in ballots sooner rather than later. In Alaska, postmarking does not automatically occur at the post office window, so voters should go in and ask for ballots to be postmarked if it’s getting close to the Nov. 5 deadline.

“It’s a long, complicated ballot,” Congdon said. “There’s two ballot measures on the ballot. It’s a presidential election where you rank the ... presidential choice, and so make a voting plan. Make sure that you’re informed of the questions that are on the ballot, informed about judicial retentions. Make a plan and then come vote and you can either early vote or vote at your polling place on Election Day.”

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