Already cast your absentee ballot for governor? What’s a voter to do?

Last week’s resignation of Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, and campaign suspension by incumbent Governor Bill Walker upended the until-then three-way race for Alaska governor. But some Alaskans had already returned their absentee-by-mail ballots.

According to the state’s web site, 3,076 Alaska voters have already returned their ballots by mail or online, as of Friday, Oct. 19, the day Walker announced he’d be suspending his campaign.

If those voters had cast their tally for Gov. Bill Walker, now it appears they’re simply out of luck. According to Division of Elections spokesperson Samantha Miller, Alaska Law doesn’t allow the division to replace a ballot once it’s been voted and returned.

“A vote for any candidate for governor or lieutenant governor appearing on the 2018 general election ballot will be counted as a vote for that candidate,” Miller wrote Monday afternoon.

Miller says the deadline to withdraw from the race was Tuesday, Sept. 4, and no candidate for Governor or Lieutenant Governor withdrew by that deadline. The candidates’ names have already been printed on the final ballot. (

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For absentee voters who have filled out their ballot, but not yet returned it, they can contact the division’s Absentee & Petition office for a replacement ballot. That office can be reached at (907) 270-2700, at akabsentee@alaska.gov, or by mail or in person at 2525 Gambell Street, Suite 105, Anchorage, AK, 99503-2838