2024 General Election: Important Return Dates
In Alaska, voted absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, November 5th, or returned in person to a voting location by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
Absentee voting is available and no excuse is required. The last day to request an absentee ballot is 10 days before the election. You can return your absentee ballot request form through mail, in person at your local elections office, or online (if you have a valid Alaska driver’s license or state ID card). Voted ballots must be postmarked by Election Day in order to be counted. You can sign up to track your absentee ballot on your Division of Elections website.
Those who requested an absentee ballot but end up voting in person may be able to. Do not mail a ballot and vote in person. Voters should destroy and dispose of their absentee ballot if they end up voting in-person. Voters should contact the Alaska Absentee and Petition Office to determine their options. Find their contact information here.
If you are unable to vote in Alaska on Election Day, you can vote absentee:
Absentee ballot applications are available anytime for each calendar year. The application deadline is 10 days before the election. You can request a ballot for a one election or for all elections in the year.
Apply early to receive your ballot in time. Regular absentee ballots are mailed about one to two weeks before an election. If your absentee ballot is to be sent to a remote area of Alaska, you may request a special advance ballot on this site. A special advance ballot will be mailed 45 days before the election.
Your voted ballot must be witnessed and signed in order to be accepted.
Absentee Voting by fax should be your last alternative to casting your ballot. By using this method to return your voted ballot, you need to be aware that you are voluntarily waiving your right to a secret ballot. You must apply separately for each election. You must submit your request no later than 5:00 pm the day before Election Day. If you are returning your ballot by fax, it must be voted, witnessed and received by the appropriate fax in the absentee voting office by 8:00 pm on Election Day.
If you are a qualified voter who is disabled, you may apply for an absentee ballot through a personal representative who can bring the ballot to you. A personal representative can be anyone over 18, except a candidate for office in the election, your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union. Ballots are available 15 days before the primary, general or statewide special election at any regional elections office.
The personal representative brings the completed application to an election official for a ballot and takes the ballot to you. You complete a certificate authorizing the personal representative to carry your ballot, vote the ballot privately, place it in a secrecy sleeve and seal it inside the envelope provided. The personal representative brings the voted ballot back to the election official by 8:00 pm on Election Day.
Overseas citizens and U.S. military personnel can register to vote and request an absentee ballot at the Overseas Vote Foundation.
Request your BallotAlaska does not have a statewide ballot curing process for absentee/mail ballots. Only the City of Anchorage has a ballot curing (correcting) process, and the deadline to correct a ballot is no later than 4pm on the day the canvassing board meets, which is on or before the third Friday after the election. If the signature on a ballot return envelope is missing or is deemed invalid, Anchorage election officials will send you a letter explaining what happened, and you will have to fill out a form and direct you to return it or come to the location in the letter and present a valid ID to sign a verification form. If you voted a provisional (questioned) ballot, you will receive a letter from election officials notifying you if your ballot was rejected or partially counted. You can track the status of your ballot using your state’s online tool.
For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.
For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.
Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here.
Early voting is available to all voters for any reason and begins 15 days before an election. Locations vary, you can find your early voting location on the Early and In-Person Voting Locations webpage.
Early ballots cast through the Thursday before the election will be counted on election night. All early ballots cast after that date, and all absentee ballots are counted beginning the 7th day after the election through the 15th day after the election.
Your next election date can be found here https://www.vote411.org/alaska
Please check your local city/boroughs for local election calendar or contact your local elections office for more information on local elections.
To be eligible to vote you must be:
NOTE: You may register to vote 90 days before you turn 18, however, you must be 18 on or before Election Day to cast a ballot.
Incarcerated Voters & Returning Citizens:
In Alaska, you are not eligible to vote if you are convicted of a felony. Your voting rights may be restored following the completion of your sentence, including prison term, probation, and parole. The Division of Elections must receive proof of your unconditional discharge from the supervising entity before you can register to vote. Pretrial detention and misdemeanors do not impact your voting rights.
Voters without traditional residence:
Citizens don't need a "permanent home" for voter registration. A citizen can provide an alternative description of their residence, even if they are experiencing homelessness, as long as it enables the authorities to identify and assign a voting precinct. The description must indicate where they live, such as highway name and milepost number, boat harbor, pier and slip number, subdivision name with lot and block or trailer park name, and space number. They may provide the community's name as their residence address if they live in rural Alaska. This precinct assignment ensures that the voter receives the appropriate ballot. The mailing address on their registration form can be a PO box, local shelter, advocacy organization, outreach center, or the home of someone who will accept mail for them.
If you register by mail, you are required to include information that will verify your identity.
Such as:
If your identity cannot be verified when you register to vote, you will be required to provide certain identification when voting.
You will need to show your signed voter ID card, or any other signed ID that will allow the election worker to verify your signature. A photo ID is not required.
Examples include:
You may also present one of the following forms of ID if it includes your name and current address:
If you do not have an acceptable ID you can get one from your local DMV.
If you do not have ID or your name does not appear on the precinct register, you must vote a questioned ballot.
Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline
Official results are never available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted.
For Presidential elections, local results will be certified no later than the day after Election.
Official election results will be uploaded on Alaska’s Division of Elections website as they become available.
Official Results
You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.
If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.
You can make sure we have safe, fair, and efficient elections for all. Become a poll worker today!
In order to be a poll worker in Alaska, you must:
Youth Ambassador Program: If you are at least 16 years old and a student in high school (public, private or qualified home school program) you may sign up to be a youth ambassador. You can find more information about this program at the Alaska Division of Elections website.
To sign up, contact your local board of elections.
The polling place hours are from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm for Primary, General and Statewide Special Elections and 8:00am to 8:00pm for Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA) elections.
You can find your polling place here.
Alaska has a “top four” primary system. All candidates appear on the same ballot and all voters get the same ballot. Voters choose one candidate from each race. The top four candidates from each race will move on to the General Election.
If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.
Provisional (questioned) voting is available if you meet any of these criteria:
Once voted, questioned ballots are sent to a review board who will determine if your ballot can be counted. If your ballot is rejected or partially counted, you will receive a letter telling you the reasons. Questioned ballots are counted 15 days after the election.
In addition to bilingual assistance in many polling places, the division of elections has a TTY communication device for the hearing impaired, magnifying ballot viewers at the polling places and audio recordings of the general election official election pamphlet for the visually impaired, and handicapped accessible polling places.
You may bring someone to help you at the polls. The person you bring may go into the booth with you and assist you with voting. This includes election officials, friends, family members, bystanders, campaign workers and anyone else who is not your employer, an agent of your employer, or officer or agent of your union.
If you had planned on going to your polling place on Election Day, but become ill or are home-bound, you can vote by having a personal representative bring you a ballot. If this is inconvenient, you can apply up to 10 days before an election for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you. If your specific type of special services needed are not covered here, please contact an elections office for assistance.
For more information, you can utilize the American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) resource.
All general elections in the state of Alaska are conducted by Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). RCV allows you to rank candidates in order of preference. Only the top four candidates who received the greatest number of votes for any office in the primary will appear on the general election ballot. There will still be a space for write-in candidates. If no candidate receives a majority of 1st choice votes in the 1st round of counting, more rounds of counting continue until a candidate reaches a majority. For more information on RCV and frequently asked questions, click here.
The registration deadline is 30 days before an election. You can now register to vote online! You must have a valid Alaska driver's license or state ID to register online. If you do not have either of those forms of ID, you may register using the paper form.
Alaska law allows for same day voter registration for the purposes of voting for President and Vice President.
Employers must allow enough paid time off to vote for their employees, unless the employer has at least two hours to vote before or after his/her work hours.
To verify your voter registration status
click here!The voting systems used in Alaska are optical scan, touch screen-paper ballots and hand count.
Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.
Touch Screen-Paper ballots: These units used in Alaska have a voter verifiable paper trail that allows the voter to verify the printed version of the ballot prior to casting the ballot. When voting on a touch screen, the voter has the option of having the ballot on the screen and/or listen to an audio version of the ballot and using a keypad to make the selection. Like the optical scan, when the polls close, the election board ends the election on the touch screen and then transmit results either via telephone line (for optical scan precincts) or by calling in the results to the regional office (for hand-count precincts).
Hand Count: These precincts are those precincts that are in rural areas of the state with fewer voters. After the polls close, the election boards tally the ballots using prepared tally books and then call in the results to the appropriate regional office. The regional offices then data enter the results into the regional GEMS computer and uploads the results to the GEMS system in the Director's Office via modem connection. There are 135 hand-count precincts in Alaska.
You can learn more about voting systems by checking out the Elections Assistance Commission's (EAC) resource.
Division of Elections
PO Box 110017
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0017
LWV volunteers work year-round to register new voters, host community forums and debates, and provide voters with election information they need.
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