Alaska’s vote-counting process is slow. That’s due in part to the long window for
absentee votes to arrive.

Though they must be postmarked by Election Day, ballots can arrive from within
the U.S. as late as 10 days after Election Day, and from outside the U.S. up to
15 days after Election Day.

Republican Nick Begich III maintained his lead over Democratic Congresswoman
Mary Peltola after the Division of Elections posted an updated results tally late
Tuesday night.

Begich now has about 49% of first-place votes to Peltola’s nearly 46%. That’s a
difference of nearly 10,000 votes. If neither of the candidates win more than 50%
of first-place votes once all valid ballots are counted, the winner will be determined
by ranked choice tabulation on Nov. 20.

Meanwhile, a ballot measure to repeal the state’s open primary and ranked choice
voting system remains on track to pass. Though thousands of ballots remain to be
counted, yes votes outnumber noes by more than 2,800 votes. That’s a margin of
1 percentage point.

The Alaska Division of Elections is expected to release at least two more result
updates: one on Nov. 15 and another on Nov. 20. Tuesday’s included roughly 38,000
new ballots, mostly absentee, early and questioned ballots, plus votes from one
Election Day precinct in rural Alaska that had not previously reported its tally. It’s the
first large batch of ballots to be added after Election Day as officials process and
count votes from within the state and around the world.

https://alaskapublic.org/2024/11/12/begich-maintains-lead-and-repeal-of-ranked-choice-still-passing-in-updated-election-results/