Early voting results show Sarah Palin way ahead in the crowded special primary race for Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House.
The Alaska Division of Elections reported late Saturday night that Palin has collected 32,371 votes.
Nick Begich III was a distant second with 20,994 votes. Palin, the former Alaska governor, has a nearly 30% lead over Begich, whose late grandfather once held the same office.
Al Gross, an Anchorage surgeon, was in third place with 13,563 votes, followed by Mary Pelota, an Alaska Native and former state lawmaker, with 8,101 votes.
Under Alaska’s new system of ranked-choice voting the top four vote getters will advance to the special general election on Aug. 16. Voters will be asked to list the candidates in order of preference.
Early results Saturday from the special primary are unofficial with 108,981 ballots counted. The number represents 18% of Alaska’s 587,174 registered voters.
Santa Claus of North Pole, who became a national media celebrity for his name, has received 4,864 votes in early voting, putting him in sixth place behind Tara Sweeney, a former U.S. under secretary and Alaska Native. She has 5,712 votes.
Interior candidate Adam Wool has received 1,865 votes, just under 2% of the votes. Wool, a Fairbanks Democrat, recently resigned as a state House lawmaker. He is campaigning full time in the special primary and in the regular primary for Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House.
U.S. Rep. Don Young held onto the office for 49 years until his death in March at age 88. The special primary election is to finish the final months of his term. The winner is expected to be sworn in the first week in September.
The primary election for the next regular House term is Aug. 16, followed by the general election, which is the first Tuesday in November. The winner will take office in January 2023. The regular House seat is for a two-year term.
The special primary election drew 48 candidates whose names appeared on a single ballot that was sent to voters by mail.
In Alaska’s first mail-in election, voters were asked to pencil in their selection, sign and return the ballot. The state paid for the postage.
In an 11th hour challenge, the Alaska Commission for Human Rights sued the Alaska Division of Elections to stop the certification of the results, which is scheduled for June 25.
The Human Rights Commission argued that people who are visually impaired were not able to vote independently and without assistance.
In previous elections, tablets that are accessible to visually impaired voters were provided at all polling locations to allow for private voting.
An Anchorage superior court judge ruled Friday in favor of the Human Rights Commission.
But the Alaska Supreme Court intervened Saturday and said the vote counting and certification could proceed.
The state’s highest court reversed and vacated the lower court ruling that stopped officials from certifying ballots until visually impaired voters had a “full and fair” chance to cast ballots.
