Absentee ballots may extend waiting game

VICTORIA BARBER

November 06, 2008 at 1:44PM AKST

With pre-election polls showing Alaska’s iconic Sen. Ted Stevens in a dead heat with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, not to mention Gov. Sarah Palin on the national ticket, the Nov. 4 general election could hardly have been more hotly anticipated. But even after the polling booths closed Nov. 4, Alaskans awaiting final results may have to wait a little longer – more than 10 days longer.

That’s because this year, election officials aren’t likely to start counting absentee and mail-in ballots until Nov. 14. Those early-bird ballots won’t count early either, unless the voter happens to have voted at a regional office, which has access to a database of registered voters (how do you know if you voted at a regional office? If you voted early and a volunteer checked your name on piece of paper in a three-ring binder, you did not).

Gail Fenumiai, the director of Alaska’s Division of Elections, said the delay is to give the state time to cross-check absentee ballots with Election Day ballots and make sure that no one is voting twice.

Voting twice is considered a class C felony, with possible jail time of up to five years and a maximum $50,000 fine. That didn’t stop 26 Alaska voters who voted twice during the primaries, who Fenumiai said are the cause of the new procedure on counting absentee ballots.

“The division took a hard look and realized there was a way we could make this happen,” he said. “It impacts the counting of the ballots slightly, but we felt it was the responsibility of the division to ensure that it is one person, one vote, rather than getting out the votes quickly.”

Fenumiai said that absentee ballots account for about 18 percent of the votes cast in Alaska, or about 11,000 votes. While that may not generally be considered a large amount, it could be a deciding factor in Alaska’s races for U.S. House and Senate.

On the tail of the announcement that Stevens, Alaska’s so-called “senator for life,” was found guilty on seven federal felony charges, Begich led in the polls but cautioned supporters that the election is still too close to call. Four days before the election, Ethan Berkowitz, the minority leader in the Alaska House of Representatives, led Young in the polls by a few percentage points, making the House race a toss-up.

With the contests close, absentee voters — including early voters, voters in schools out of state or stationed overseas and voters in villages too small to have a polling place — may have the final say in the rise and fall of Alaska candidates.

John Zeller lives in Red Devil, a town of about 30 residents with a post office and school, but no stores and no polling precinct. Like Lime Village, Stony River and Oscarville, voters in Red Devil are considered “permanent absentee voters” — they have to apply to vote and mail in a ballot for every election.

Reached at the post office on Oct. 31, Zeller said that this year he didn’t receive his application to vote and now it is too late to apply. He and his wife intended to travel to Sleetmute to hit the polls on Election Day.

“I’ve been thinking about it this all day, every day, that if we can’t snowmachine the 10 miles (to Sleetmute), then I’ll have to fly,” said Zeller, who supports John McCain for president. “It’d be really disappointing to me if I didn’t get to vote.”

Zeller served 16 months in Korea and two years in the Alaska Scout Battalion. He said that his military background is one reason he feels strongly that is important to vote.

“I fly the flag and I’m a veteran, it’s important to me – there are so many people who sacrificed their lives so we can do that, it’s real important to me to vote,” Zeller said. “It may cost us a few hundred to vote but that’s alright, it’s worth it to me.”

Zeller would like it if the voting process were simpler. However, even if it’s over a week before his vote is counted, he’ll still brave the distance to Sleetmute to cast his ballot.

“We’re on the end of the line, and it’s probably going to already be decided before our votes are counted, but that doesn’t matter, I still think it’s important,” said Zeller. “Polls say it’s over, and they (McCain and Palin) are not going to make it, but it’s not over until it’s over.”

Victoria Barber can be reached at 907-348-2424 or 800-770-9830, ext. 424.