Post by kaima on Nov 5, 2020 23:12:35 GMT -7
Nov. 6, 2020, 12:30 a.m. ago
33 minutes ago
By Mike Baker
Think the results are too slow? Alaska shows it could be worse.
Alaska has some generous ballot return deadlines and won’t count absentee votes until next Tuesday.
Alaska has some generous ballot return deadlines and won’t count absentee votes until next Tuesday.Credit...Michael Armstrong/Homer Tribune, via Associated Press
SEATTLE — There are a half-dozen states where the presidential outcome remains unclear. Five of them are swing states. And then there is Alaska.
While President Trump is favored in Alaska and holds about 63 percent of the votes tallied so far, so few votes have been counted that news media outlets have resisted calling the race. And there will not be much clarity until next week.
The glacial pace of tabulation is a result of an election plan that involves waiting to count absentee votes until Nov. 10. Alaska elections officials have said they planned to check each absentee vote against official precinct books from Election Day to ensure that someone did not vote twice.
The sprawling state also has some generous ballot return deadlines. While votes must be postmarked by Election Day, absentee ballots are allowed if they arrive within 10 days of the election — or 15 days if coming from out of the country.
The long delay has caused some angst and plenty of speculation. While Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, has 63 percent of the vote so far, his Democratic challenger, Al Gross, said he believed the remaining votes would trend so much in his favor that he could win.
