Alaska Elections

The state Elections Division has certified two legislative election contests that Democrats now lead.  At least one recount is likely.

Republican Bob Bell has said he would request a recount of his race against Anchorage Sen. Hollis French, who leads by 51 votes.  (French=7593.  Bell=7542.)

French had a 54-vote lead on Friday, when the last of the absentee ballots were counted.

He was ahead by 250 votes for Senate District J on election night, but Bell gained considerable ground during the count of outstanding ballots.  Bell said it’s frustrating to come so close to winning, so he will request a recount:

“You never know. What are we talking about — point 3 percent,” Bell said.  “So that’s like three votes per precinct, so it wouldn’t take much of a mistake to make a difference.”

Meanwhile, Democrat Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins of Sitka gained two votes in the certification process.  The final tally of votes in the House District 34 race puts Haines Republican Rep.  Bill Thomas 34 votes behind.  (Kreiss-Tomkins=4125. Thomas=4091.)

Thomas also is expected to request a recount.

The recounts would be free because the candidates are separated by less than half a percent.

Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai says a request for a recount must be received by Nov. 28.

Elections officials then have five days to complete the recount.

 

 

 

 

Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins has won the House District 34 race by just 32 votes.

The Alaska Division of Elections Wednesday morning completed the tally of absentee ballots, giving the 23-year-old Sitka Democrat 4,123 to 4,091 for Haines Republican Rep. Bill Thomas.

The margin of difference is just .38 percent and is eligible for a recount, according to Elections Division Director Gail Fenumiai.

She says the recount cannot be requested until the district vote has been certified then the request must be received within 5 days.  It would be held for another five days before the count takes place.  Fenumiai anticipates certification of the district on Friday.

House District 34 encompasses a large area of Southeast Alaska from Haines to Sitka, including  Metlakatla, Craig, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake, Klukwan, Port Alexander, Pelican, Elfin Cove, Klawock, Kasaan and Hydaburg.

In Anchorage Senate District J, Sen. Hollis French won the race by 54 votes over Republican challenger Bob Bell.

Fenumiai says the ballot count is  complete. Themargin is .36 percent, also eligible for a recount.
 

An additional 86 absentee ballots have been counted, according to Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections.

Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins now has 4,110 votes to Haines Republican Representative Bill Thomas’s 4,082 votes.

The remaining 26 special absentee ballots will be counted on Wednesday along with any other eligible ballots postmarked from overseas that arrive by Wednesday.

 

 

Democratic Sen. Hollis French is still slightly ahead of Republican challenger Bob Bell, for Senate District J in Anchorage.

The state Division of Elections counted more absentee ballots on Friday, giving French a 50-vote lead.  At the end of the day, French had 7,572 votes to Bell’s 7,522 votes.

In another race Democrats were watching,  totals remain unchanged  for Anchorage House District 25.  At the last ballot count on Tuesday, Republican Rep. Lance Pruitt led Rep. Pete Peterson, the Democrat, by 216 votes.  Elections Director Gail Fenumiai says when the absentees are counted, there aren’t enough ballots to make up the large spread in that race.

It’s expected the Division of Elections will continue its count of absentee ballots Nov. 19 and Nov. 21.

The race for House District 34 is all tied up. Haines Republican Representative Bill Thomas and Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins now have 4,054 votes each.

State Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said two question ballots from Port Alexander were counted Friday morning. Both went to Kreiss-Tomkins. He was trailing Thomas by two votes after more than 2,100 absentee ballots were counted earlier this week.

But the vote count isn’t over. Fenumiai said at least 85 absentee ballots will be counted Monday and as many as 128 more could be received in time for the final vote count next Wednesday.

At that point, Kreiss-Tomkins said he anticipates a recount.

“With anything this close it would make sense to have maximum diligence,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.

Thomas agreed a recount is likely.

According to Fenumiai, if the two men are tied after the final vote count, the state automatically schedules and pays for a recount. She said if less than 20 votes – or a half of percentage point – separates the two candidates then the defeated candidate can officially request a recount and it will be paid for by the state. If there is a wider margin, the candidate behind on votes can request a recount, but must pay a deposit.

In the meantime, Kreiss-Tomkins said he’s home in Sitka trying to stay upbeat about the long process.

“We’re just having a whole lot of fun right now just because it’s, I mean this calendar of vote counting just couldn’t be scheduled in more of a maximumally entertaining fashion,” he said. “So we’re pleased to be the source of such quality electoral entertainment.”

Thomas on the other hand, doesn’t see the bright side. He’s still disappointed in the loss of representation for the district on House committees and in leadership positions. Without a clear winner in the race, Republicans assigned committees and chairs without Thomas, who served as co-chair of House Finance the last two years.

“What’s sad is we lost the co-chair of the House Finance for Southeast,” Thomas said. “And I don’t know if there’s any way to recover from that and I don’t we’ll ever be able to.”

Kriess-Tomkins said the ongoing vote count does makes it challenging for him to either move on from the election or make plans for a move to Juneau.

“I’m sort of in the background, having conversations with potential staffing hires, trying to learn ins and outs about legislative approvals and offices, session dates, calendars, that kind of stuff,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thomas said he’s occasionally going to his legislative office in Haines, but otherwise hunkered down at home, awaiting results and working on next season’s fishing gear.

“Right now I’m sitting here tying halibut gear,” he said. “Life goes on.”

Following last week’s re-election of President Obama, petitions for secession began appearing on the We the People website hosted by the White House.

The site allows people to post a petition to be addressed by the Obama Administration. If the petition gains 25,000 signatures in 30 days the White House will offer an official response.

Two people from Alaska have submitted petitions.

“Matthew G” from Palmer, created a petition on Nov. 10. The petition requests that “the Federal Government allow Alaska to peacefully secede from a dysfunctional Union that is run by corrupt politicians who buy the votes of individuals who can no longer be seen as American citizens but rather, slaves to a tyrant.”

So far it has gained 507 signatures, most of which come from outside Alaska. Only 57 signers self-identified as being from Alaska.

Though the site requests people to avoid making duplicate or similar topic petitions, another secession petition for Alaska was added on Nov. 11.

“Paul M” from Anchorage created a petition for Alaska to have an election to decide whether or not to secede from the United States.

[quote]“Our main “goal” is a legal vote and ballot; one that was not given in 1958 and was in violation of International Law and Treaty. Alaskans were robbed of the choices we were to have as a non-self-governing territory, and steam-rolled into the current classification of a State. The Native population of Alaska, in a large percentage, did not even receive a ballot because of the Federal Voting Rights Act in place. Alaskans now seek to a statewide free election to decide whether Alaska should be a free and Independent Nation.”[/quote]

The petition is still 18,602 signatures shy of the 25,000 required for review. So far several hundred self-identified Alaskans have signed on.

Thus far, citizens in approximately 40 states have posted petitions for secession. However, only a handful have gained enough signatures to meet the threshold for response. Petitions for the secession of Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina each have more than 25,000 signatures. The petition from Texas boasts the most with more than 98,000 signers.

There are some petitions approaching the issue from the other side. There is a petition to make all states wishing to secede pay their share of the national debt first. Another asks to exile American citizens who signed petitions for secession, which has gained nearly 10,000 signatures.

There is currently no timeline on when the White House might respond to the petitions, however the White House did tell ABC News that it will review and respond to the petitions that obtained enough signatures.