At least 798 Chilkat Valley residents cast ballots according to results released by the state’s Division of elections early Wednesday morning.
In the presidential election, both Haines No. 1 which encompasses Lutak Road, Mud Bay and Haines and Haines No. 2 which includes much of the upper Chilkat Valley voted for former President Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. The two also won the state with a more than 15 percentage point lead over Kamala Harris.
Klukwan turned out primarily for current Vice President Kamala Harris.
All three precincts broke for incumbent Mary Peltola, though about 8% in Haines No. 1 voted for Alaska Independent Party candidate John Wayne Howe.
Peltola is currently behind Republican candidate Nick Begich, though there are still votes remaining to be counted. Howe and out-of-state Democratic candidate Eric Hafner are far behind Peltola and Begich but could still decide the election. If neither Peltola or Begich have at least 50% of the state’s first-choice votes by the time counting is finished, ranked choice voting will be used to decide the ultimate winner.
On Nov. 20, the Alaska Division of Elections will redistribute votes for Howe and Hafner to Peltola and Begich, based on voters’ second and third choices. Additional absentee ballots will be added to the candidates’ totals on Nov. 12, Nov. 15 and Nov. 20, according to the Division of Elections.
Peltola’s campaign said Tuesday evening that they believe she will gain ground when all rural votes and absentee ballots are counted.
On Ballot Measure 1 – all three precincts voted to increase the minimum wage, require paid sick leave and prohibit mandatory meetings about joining or supporting religious, political issues or labor organizations. All three precincts also voted to retain ranked choice voting.
On the question of whether to retain Supreme Court Justice Dario Borghesan the two Haines precincts voted in favor. But in Klukwan 57.1% voted to remove him from office. All three voted to retain Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Henderson and Court of Appeals justice Marjorie K. Allard.
A similar split happened with Court of Appeals judge Timothy Terrell with Haines 2 precincts voting to retain while a majority of voters in Klukwan voted to remove him.
In Senate District B, where Jesse Kiehl was running unopposed, he carried all three precincts as did House District 3 candidate Andi Story who also ran unopposed
James Brooks of the Alaska Beacon contributed to this story.