Honestly, the 2024 election in Alaska felt different. If you walked into Anchorage City Hall or any regional election office in late October, you weren't just "beating the rush." You were joining a massive, slow-moving wave.
Alaska early voting 2024 wasn't just a convenience this time around; it was a record-shattering phenomenon that caught almost everyone off guard, from the poll workers to the candidates themselves.
For years, Alaska was the kind of place where you bundled up on a Tuesday in November, drove through a potential blizzard, and cast your ballot at the local school or community center. Not anymore. In 2024, tens of thousands of Alaskans decided they were done with the "Election Day only" tradition. We saw lines snaking through lobbies and people waiting two hours just to get to a booth. It was wild.
The Numbers That Shocked the System
Let’s talk about the sheer scale of it. By the Sunday before the actual election, over 61,000 Alaskans had already cast their ballots. To put that into perspective, back in 2012, that number was under 20,000. Even the 2020 pandemic election, which everyone thought was the peak of "alternative" voting, didn't reach these heights for early in-person participation.
By the time the dust settled, early and absentee votes accounted for a massive chunk of the total turnout. According to the Alaska Division of Elections, the final "early vote" tally (not including mail-in) hit nearly 90,000.
Why the sudden shift?
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Part of it is definitely psychological. Alaskans are used to "life-event things," as Nick Begich put it during a lunch stop in Spenard. Weather, health, or just a sudden flat tire on a remote road can ruin an Election Day plan. Voting early takes that risk off the table.
But there’s more to it. Both parties—Republicans and Democrats—went all-in on telling their supporters to vote early. It used to be that one side was a bit skeptical of early voting, but in 2024, the "bank your vote" strategy was everywhere.
How Early Voting Actually Worked (and Where the Confusion Was)
There's a bit of a quirk in how we do things up here. Alaska has two main ways to vote before the big day: Early Voting and Absentee In-Person.
Basically, if you go to a designated "Early Voting" site in your district, your eligibility is checked on the spot. You feed your ballot into the scanner right there. It’s done. But if you’re voting at a site outside your home district—say, you’re from Wasilla but you’re working in Anchorage—you’re likely doing "Absentee In-Person." Those ballots go into an envelope, get reviewed by a board later, and aren't scanned until days after the election.
This led to some late-night anxiety for people watching the results. Because so many people voted this way, there were nearly 46,000 ballots still sitting in piles two days after the election. It's why we didn't know the winners of the tightest races for a couple of weeks.
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The Ranked Choice Factor
You can't talk about alaska early voting 2024 without mentioning Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). This was the first time we used RCV for a presidential election, and it was also on the ballot itself—Measure 2 was the big fight over whether to keep the system or scrap it.
People weren't just choosing a name; they were ranking them 1, 2, 3, and 4.
- Nick Begich ended up winning the U.S. House seat.
- Mary Peltola, who stood in that two-hour line at City Hall, eventually conceded as the counts finalized.
- The effort to repeal RCV (Ballot Measure 2) failed by a tiny margin—just a few hundred votes after a recount.
The complexity of the ballot might have actually encouraged people to vote early. If you've got a complicated list of rankings and a big decision on the voting system itself, you might want to sit down and take your time at an early voting site rather than feeling the pressure of a line behind you on a busy Tuesday.
What Most People Got Wrong
A common misconception was that early voting was only for people who were going to be out of town. That’s old-school thinking. Alaska is a "no-excuse" state. You don't need a reason. You just show up with your ID—a driver’s license, state ID, or even a hunting license works—and you're in.
Another thing: people thought the "Early Votes" would be the first ones reported on election night. Not necessarily. While the true "Early Voting" site scans are part of the initial results, those "Absentee In-Person" envelopes (the ones that looked like early voting to the person standing in line) didn't even start getting counted until roughly a week after the election.
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The Logistics of the 15-Day Window
Early voting locations opened on October 21, exactly 15 days before the general election. The Division of Elections set up shop in places like:
- Regional offices (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome).
- Community hubs like the Eagle River Town Center.
- Malls and city halls.
Hours varied wildly. Some spots were 8-to-5, others stayed open later. If you were in a rural village, your "early voting" usually looked more like mail-in or electronic transmission, which has its own set of deadlines (like the November 4th cutoff for electronic requests).
Actionable Tips for the Next Cycle
If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that the "last minute" is a dangerous place to be in Alaska. If you want to avoid the chaos next time, keep these points in mind:
- Check your registration by early October. The deadline is always 30 days before the election. If you miss that, you’re limited to only voting for President/VP via a special process.
- Aim for the first week. The lines at Anchorage City Hall were manageable on day one but became a two-hour ordeal by the final Friday.
- Bring the right ID. You need a current photo ID or a combination of documents (like a utility bill and a birth certificate) that matches your DMV record.
- Verify your "Early" vs. "In-Person Absentee." If you want your vote to be part of the "Election Night" totals, try to vote at a designated early voting site within your actual district.
- Don't panic about the delay. In Alaska, "Election Night" is actually "Election Month." Because of our geography and the way envelopes are verified, the official certification doesn't happen until late November.
The 2024 cycle proved that Alaskans have embraced a new way of doing things. Whether it was the coffee shop in City Hall making extra money off people waiting in line or the candidates themselves standing in those same lines, early voting is the new normal. If you're still waiting until the first Tuesday in November, you're becoming a minority.