Voters chose their preferred candidates at the ANB Hall for the 2022 special election and primary on Aug. 16.
Based on results released early Wednesday afternoon, the majority of Haines voters supported Democratic candidate Mary Peltola for the U.S. House special election, according to Alaska Division of Elections.
Peltola received 326 votes, 54% of votes cast in the townsite precinct. Votes for Republican candidates Sarah Palin and Nick Begich were split, with Begich eking out one extra vote-135 to 136, respectively. The winner of the interim appointment to replace Rep. Don Young, who died in March, will be known when the last ballots are counted later this month.
This year marked the first time Alaskan voters used the ranked choice voting system. Once the final ballots are counted, if no candidate crosses the 50% threshold, the last-place candidate will be eliminated and the second-place votes of that candidate’s supporters will be redistributed. The winner of the special U.S. House race will serve the final four months of Young’s term.
On the opposite side of the ballot for the pick-one primary vote, Peltola, Begich and Palin are also running in the general election. The majority of Haines voters chose Peltola, but Palin received a wider margin of support over Begich than in the ranked choice special election.
Among the 612 votes cast for the primary election in the townsite’s precinct one, Peltola received 50% of the vote. Palin received 23.5% and Begich received 20.9%. The top four candidates will advance to the November general election.
For the U.S. Senate race, 49.2% of townsite voters chose Republican Lisa Murkowski and 24.1% chose Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who’s been backed by former president Donald Trump. The Democrat candidate Patricia Chesbro garnered 12.6% of the vote.
In the governor’s race, former governor Bill Walker, an Independent, received the majority of support from townsite voters with 35.3% of the vote. Incumbent Republican candidate Michael Dunleavy trailed at 31.8% and Democrat Les Gara received 25.4% of votes cast.
Statewide, Peltola was also the frontrunner in both the special and primary elections. Murkowki barely edged out Tshibaka and Dunleavy held the lead for the governor’s race.
Upper valley voters were also split between Begich and Palin for the special election with 26 votes cast for each candidate. Peltola received 51 votes. In the primary, upper valley voters also preferred Murkowski for U.S. Senate. Palin received 27 votes to Begich’s 26. Dunleavy received 38% of the vote to Walker’s 32.5% and Gara’s 29.2%.
The ranked choice voting system will apply to all candidates in November’s general election. The top four vote getters in each primary race will move on to the general election.
On Tuesday, Haines voters had mixed feelings about ranked choice voting. After casting her ballot, Brittany Dunbar told the CVN the ballot was a little confusing.
“I think it would have been a little more helpful if they didn’t just explain how to do it, but explain why they’re doing it,” Dunbar said.
Her husband, Luck Dunbar, was one of three townsite voters to list a write-in candidate for the special election-he chose Joe Parnell, also known as “Pizza Joe,” as his third favorite candidate.
“Anytime there’s a write in, I always vote for Pizza Joe,” Dunbar said of Parnell, a candidate he ranked higher than Palin. “I put her fourth after Pizza Joe.”
Tom Ganner said he’s “okay with it,” but thinks ranked choice will confuse many voters.
“But I think the jury’s still out on it, whether it’s a good way of voting,” Carolyn Ganner said.
Dave Disbrow didn’t rank any candidates and instead chose to vote for the candidate he most preferred.
“I just voted for one person,” Disbrow said. “Anything new I’m suspicious of, I’ll put it that way.”