Canvass Board Verifying Absentee Ballots

The day after the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s general election, the Canvass Board began verifying the total number of poll votes cast at each precinct. On Thursday the Canvass Board began canvassing or verifying the eligibility of the absentee ballots. The absentee, questioned, and special needs ballots that are verified as eligible could be counted next week by the Review Board.

The election will be certified at the Assembly meeting on Oct. 16. The Canvass Board is five election officials who have worked elections for a range of five to 20 years. The Review Board is a three-person panel.

By Thursday this week, the Canvass Board had reviewed and verified ballot accountabilities. The job of the Canvass Board is to verify that the number of voters signed into the register at the polls is the same as the number of votes cast on the Accu-vote tape. A full report of any corrections will be made on the night of the election certification before the Assembly.

More than 2,000 votes may still be counted including absentee ballots, questioned ballots and special needs ballots. Some 1,874 absentee ballots were returned, at last count. More of the 2,040 issued absentee ballots could still arrive by mail, but to be counted must arrive today, Oct. 5. The absentee by-mail ballots had to be post marked by yesterday (10/2) and received by mail today, 10/5, to be counted.

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Here is a table of the questioned ballots issued on election night by ballot type.

The table below shows the total number of ballots issued by ballot type for absentee by-mail, absentee in-person, and some of the special needs ballots that were issued during the absentee period.  The table also shows, by ballot type, how many absentee ballots have been received and that are still not received as of Wednesday. 

Photo: the Canvass Board left to right: Tereasa Thompson, Chair Shirley Mills, Bev Zobel, Hiram Pendergrass, and Aina Werner are going through the meticulous process of verifying absentee ballots.

For more information, contact Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie at (907) 861-8683 or Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan at (907) 355-0103.