Mail Delays Sink 75 Rural Alaska Ballots in Primary

Seventy-five absentee in-person ballots cast by voters in rural western Alaska communities reached election officials too late to be included in last month's primary count, the Alaska Division of Elections said this week.

The affected voters live in seven communities. Kotzebue, Igiugig and Naknek accounted for 62 of the 75 ballots. The division attributed the problem to a "mail delivery delay," but a spokesperson did not elaborate on what caused it. Absentee in-person ballots are routed to regional offices — in this case Nome — for review.

The disclosure follows reports from the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon that far more ballots were rejected this year because of late postmarks. The U.S. Postal Service finalized a rule last year stating that a postmark does not necessarily show when the agency first received a piece of mail, only when it was handled at a processing center. On Thursday, Postmaster General David Steiner urged by-mail voters to cast their ballots early for this year's midterm elections.

Asked about the Alaska ballots, Postal Service spokesperson Nikolaj Hagen said "any number of factors" can affect delivery times and that employees take their responsibilities seriously.

"Without a review of the actual mailpieces involved, the Postal Service is unable to comment further," he said in a statement. "We will continue to work closely with Alaska election officials to identify opportunities for communication and coordination where needed."

Alaska accepts absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day and mailed from within the United States up to 10 days after an election. That window is not always sufficient. In 2022, ballots from some villages went uncounted in full because of mail delays. Most Alaska communities are not linked to the state's main road network, making air service essential to moving voting materials to and from remote areas.

Michelle Sparck, director of Get Out the Native Vote, called the 75 late ballots "a measurable loss in participation."

"Experiences like this can deepen voter apathy and reinforce the systemic perception that our votes do not matter," she said by email.

Sparck said her organization backs the division's plan to reroute absentee in-person ballots from western Alaska away from the Nome regional office and through the one in Anchorage, the state's largest city.

"This is a practical adjustment to the realities of transporting election materials from rural Alaska, where mail delays can prevent valid ballots from being processed on time," she said.

Sallyann Hughes, who lives in the small southwest village of Naknek, said she voted absentee in-person on Aug. 5, 13 days before the primary. She later received a letter informing her that her ballot had not arrived in time.

"I was quite unpleased," she said. "I made an extra effort to make sure that I was there and that I voted because I wanted my vote to count and it didn't."

Hughes will be out of state for the general election. She plans to request an absentee ballot delivered electronically, which she must download, print and have witnessed. She said she intends to "take it and walk into the post office, make them stamp the postmark on it in front of me and mail it with tracking."