Alaska voter turnout may set a record

[babylonsister]

Alaska voter turnout may set a record

OVER 320,000: Eyebrows were raised with early tally, but nearly a third of ballots counted after Nov. 4.

By SEAN COCKERHAM
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Published: November 17th, 2008 12:26 AM


That's contrary to hand-wringing about why Alaskans didn't show up for this historic election, and even some speculation that ballots weren't being counted.

"I think people were premature to jump to conclusions that voter turnout was very low. It's apparent that a large number of people in this state chose to vote absentee versus in person on Election Day," said Gail Fenumiai, state elections division director.

The state will count the final absentee and questioned ballots Tuesday -- about 24,000 of them. Even if a third of the questioned ballots are disqualified, that will put the turnout above 320,000, the most Alaskans who have ever voted.

What's unusual this year is that nearly a third of the ballots weren't counted until after Election Day. That's because of the record number of Alaskans who chose to vote early and absentee.

Thousands of "early votes" weren't counted until after Election Day to give the state time to double-check and make sure people didn't vote twice. Democrats especially pushed people to vote early and absentee this year, trying to reduce the chance they wouldn't get around to it on Election Day. Also, there is a general trend of people preferring alternatives to the traditional Election Day trip to the polls.

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http://www.adn.com/election/story/591659.html