Anchorage Elections Office sends out about 210,000 ballots for upcoming April election

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -The Municipality of Anchorage sent out approximately 210,000 ballot packages on Tuesday to qualified voters for the upcoming April 5 election and voters can expect to see them arrive by Monday, March 21.

Items you can expect to see on the ballot are candidates for five Anchorage Assembly seats, candidates for two Anchorage School Board seats, and six area-wide propositions. There are three other propositions that are service area-specific and individual service areas will also have elections on the ballots for their respective Boards of Supervisors.

After a voter has filled out and signed their ballot, they can return it in one of three ways:

• Mailing it back
• Placing it in a secure election drop box
• Returning it to the Anchorage Vote Center

But if a voter is unable to vote by mail, there are options.

“A voter can apply to vote by email or by fax, by submitting an application to us,” Acting Deputy Clerk of Elections Jamie Heinz said. “The deadline is March 29 and we can get them a ballot faxed or emailed to them and then they print it out and vote it and send it back along with an affidavit.”

Something new this year is ballot tracking, which means voters can sign up to receive notices about where their ballots are in the process.

Ballots must be postmarked by April 5 to count. If a voter waits until the day before or day of elections to mail in their ballot, election officials suggest they ask a postal worker to hand-stamp the envelope to ensure it’s postmarked on time.

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.