Inadequate data management by the state leads to delay in Alaska absentee ballot tally

Alaska law requires that “counting of absentee ballots that have been reviewed shall begin at 8:00 p.m., local time, on the day of the election.”

That goes along with an equally important requirement in state law, that at least a week before the election, the state shall begin reviewing absentee ballots, which would allow at least some of them to be counted on Election Day.

These requirements are not being followed.

As a result, as the New York Times reports, Alaska “may well be the last state to be called, because officials there won’t even begin counting mail ballots, or early in-person ballots cast after Oct. 29, for another week.”

Inadequate data management by the state of Alaska—thanks to the political tradition of not caring about the election process for more than a few hours once every two years—means that the review of absentee ballots and the publication of the numbers is delayed. The votes won’t be counted until next week.

Before this pandemic, Alaska was one of the 32 states that permitted election officials to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, who spent many years being affable in the Legislature and working for ConocoPhillips, deserves his share of the blame for the failure only because he has occupied his largely ceremonial position—in which the only real job is to supervise elections—for the past two years.

Former legislators, governors and lieutenant governors also deserve their share of the blame for not putting more resources into this part of the job.

If Meyer believes that Alaskans should not expect prompt publication of absentee ballot totals because of the cost and difficulty of following the law, he should say so and propose an amendment to strike that language about starting the count at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

KTOO quotes Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai, a professional with a good track record, as blaming the delay on the need to prevent people from voting twice.

“We need to make sure that we have all of the in-person history that’s done from voters who go cast a ballot on Election Day at the polls, to be able to account for any voters who may have voted in person at their polling place and also by mail or voted in another manner. And to do the best to ensure that only one vote for a voter is counted in the general election,” she said.

The KTOO report says that in 2016 and 2018 the state did make an earlier count of absentee voters, but switched back to a slower process this year. That switch deserves more attention.

KTOO says that “Fenumiai didn’t immediately respond to a question about how the state’s absentee vote counting schedule is in keeping with the law.” That’s because the schedule is not in keeping with the law.

The media guide published by the state, says that absentee ballots “will be counted on a schedule determined by the division director based upon the completion of voter history from those who voted at the polls on General Election Day.”

This is also an old story that the state has not done enough to resolve.

In 2008, the day after Election Day, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Fenumiai said that 40,000 absentee ballots would not be counted until the state had time to check the names on those ballots against the names of those who went to the polls..

"It's the only way the division, at this point in time with our current voter registration system, can ensure that there's been no duplicate voting," she said 12 years ago.

Twenty-six people had voted twice in the 2008 primary and the delay was to prevent that from happening again, according to the news reports.

By 2010, the state had changed its voter guide to say that it wouldn’t count absentee votes until after checking the lists of who voted on Election Day.

With adequate and competent handling of data, lists of absentee ballots reviewed a week before Election Day should be on the record at polling places across the state, preventing people from voting twice, intentionally or by accident.

Late-arriving absentee ballots are a different matter and those could be checked agains the voter rolls used on Election Day.

With the emphasis on absentee voting this year—more than 110,000 people chose that option—the state delay in counting those votes is a serious failure.