Shayne Nuesca

Tuesday is Election Day and is the last day to turn in ballots for Juneau’s local election.

It’s the second year the election is by mail. Like last year, all ballots will be sent to Anchorage where election workers will process them.  That means preliminary results won’t be available on election night but could be out as early as Friday or Monday. 

Election workers check voter signatures and confirm that each voter has turned in only one ballot. When those are verified, the ballot gets counted and scanned. 

Ballots that are questioned and can’t be counted in Anchorage will be brought back to Juneau, where they will be examined by the canvas review board.

The board will certify election results on Oct. 19. Any results posted on the city’s website before then are unofficial.

If you haven’t mailed in your ballot, you can turn it in at a vote center or secure drop box. The vote centers are at the Mendenhall Library and the Assembly chambers. The drop boxes are at the Douglas Library and the Auke Bay boat launch parking lot. Ballots have to be returned by 8 p.m. Tuesday. 

Results will be posted on the KTOO election page when they become available.

Rumors went around Juneau on Tuesday that Donald Trump Jr. was in town for a hunting trip planned earlier this year. While the guide leading the hunt could not confirm where Trump was on Tuesday, he said the trip is still going forward.

Keegan McCarthy owns Coastal Alaska Adventures, a business that guides visitors on yacht-based hunts. Back in February, he auctioned off an opportunity to join Trump and his son on a weeklong hunt for Sitka black-tailed deer and ducks in Southeast Alaska. The chance to join Trump sold for $150,000.

McCarthy said they still intend to go on the trip, but the region’s weather is hindering their plans.

“We’re just on hold right now. We’re going to be kind of waiting to see what happens here,” he said. “Southeast has been getting hit pretty hard.”

For security reasons, McCarthy didn’t say if Trump would be waiting it out in Juneau or when exactly they would set out on their journey. But he said he already met one of his original goals.

McCarthy said the money raised through the auction went toward two programs centered on wildlife conservation and education — the American Wilderness Leadership School and another initiative he’s working out the details for.

Trump identifies as a sportsman and has hunted and fished in Alaska. He made waves earlier this year when he tweeted his opposition to the development of the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay. His father’s administration had removed a block on the mine that was there from the Obama Administration.

McCarthy also said he will still use the hunt as an opportunity to teach people about the Tongass National Forest, which the Trump administration lifted protections for in October.

“We’re still trying to educate the administration on the Tongass National Forest and do whatever we can to keep the Roadless Rule intact, even though it may be too late. But we’ll find out,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Coastal Alaska Adventures as Coast Alaska Adventures.