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brooklynite

(94,333 posts) Wed Aug 31, 2022, 08:51 AM Aug 2022

Results in Alaska's special U.S. House race expected Wednesday

Anchorage Daily News

The Alaska Division of Elections is set to release final results of the special U.S. House race Wednesday afternoon — forcing organizers to scramble to reschedule a candidate forum to avoid having the candidates sitting on stage when the winner is announced.

Alaska’s first ranked choice election was held Aug. 16. After a 15-day waiting period dictated by Alaska’s election laws, results of the race will finally be unveiled by election officials Wednesday at 4 p.m., the Division of Elections said Tuesday afternoon. Democrat Mary Peltola and Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III were scheduled to meet for a 90-minute forum set to begin at 3 p.m. hosted by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. Under Alaska’s new voting system, the race is widely seen as a close one between Peltola and Palin.

Kara Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said by phone Tuesday that the forum had been scheduled in July. But after she found out the Division of Elections had made a last-minute announcement to tabulate election results Wednesday afternoon, the association shortened the forum from 90 to 45 minutes, so it would end at 3:45 p.m. — 15 minutes before the winner is announced. The results, expected to be streamed live on Facebook, will be broadcast at the conference following the forum, the association said by email Tuesday night.

“It’s been a mess,” Moriarty said Tuesday afternoon. Election officials delayed announcing the exact time and way they would release tabulation results until just a day before the tabulation was set to take place, finally telling reporters by email on Tuesday at 2 p.m. that the tabulation would be streamed live online. The news was not shared with the public or with forum organizers.