Early primary voting begins across Alaska, but not without hiccups

Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News on Aug 3, 2026

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Early voting began across Alaska on Monday ahead of the Aug. 18 primary election, but not without hiccups.

In Anchorage, a popular early voting location was moved from the Division of Elections office on Gambell Street to a storefront in the Midtown Mall.

But the mall only opens at 10 a.m., leaving 8 a.m. voters driving in circles to find the only door open on the southeast side of the behemoth building.

Polling places are open for early voters through primary day. The Midtown Mall location is set to be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and for reduced hours on weekends.

Election officials said the decision to move early voting to the Midtown Mall was intended to accommodate the growing number of early voters who previously had to queue up outside the Division of Elections office on Gambell Street, rain or shine.

Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, who herself cast an early ballot in the Midtown Mall around midday on Monday, said that the line outside the Gambell Street location had become disturbing to other tenants of the building and subjected voters to the cold, particularly during the November election.

“This is much better,” said Beecher.

Beecher said she had not been aware that not all doors to the mall — which is sandwiched between Northern Lights Boulevard on the north and Benson Boulevard on the south near the Seward Highway — were open as of 8 a.m., when the polling place opened. She said she would contact the mall owner to ask for that to change.

Peggy Robinson, who co-chairs the Midtown Mall polling place, said numerous voters on Monday had gone first to Gambell before being told they should head to the mall instead.

“There just hasn’t been as much advertising as people would have appreciated about the fact that we aren’t voting at Gambell,” said Robinson.

The last time that the Midtown Mall hosted a polling place was in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. During the 2022 and 2024 elections, the Gambell location was among the most popular places for Alaska voters to cast their ballots.

Early voting locations are distributed unequally across the state. Anchorage itself gets two early voting locations — one at the Midtown Mall and another at the Anchorage City Hall. Eagle River gets a separate early voting location, as do Palmer, Wasilla, Kenai, Fairbanks, Nome and Juneau (which has two locations).

Other communities across the state offer what is called “absentee in-person” voting ahead of Election Day, which allows voters to cast by-mail ballots at specific locations. Those ballots are counted separately from early votes.

Even absentee in-person voting is not available in every community.

Anaktuvuk Pass, Nuiqsut, Atqasuk and Point Lay are all without early voting options, according to Michelle Sparck, who leads an effort to increase voter turnout among Alaska Native people. Voters from there can fill out a ballot in Utqiagvik or Anchorage if they are passing through, or apply to receive an absentee ballot by mail by Aug. 8.

Alaska has no-excuses absentee voting, meaning any voter can cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason.

Legislators earlier this year voted to pass an election reform bill that would have allowed voters to correct minor errors on their absentee ballots, such as missing signatures. But Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the bill, meaning that such errors could still cause ballots to be disqualified.

What’s on the ballot?

Alaska’s pick-one primary will allow voters to choose their preferred candidates in U.S. Senate, U.S. House, gubernatorial and legislative races, with 50 out of 60 seats in the state Legislature on the ballot. There is also a ballot question on whether to reinstate campaign contribution limits for the first time since they were removed in 2021.

In the U.S. Senate race, Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is facing a well-funded challenge from Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. Sullivan is also facing a challenge from a Republican with the same name, Dan J. Sullivan from Petersburg, in a race that includes a total of 16 candidates.

In the U.S. House race, there are 15 candidates, including Republican incumbent Rep. Nick Begich. His only well-funded challenger is independent Bill Hill. Democratic challenger Matt Schultz dropped out of the race, but did so too late to have his name removed from the ballot.

The open governor’s race features 17 candidates, with current Gov. Mike Dunleavy termed out from seeking reelection. The slate includes 12 Republicans, two Democrats and three independents.

The top four vote-getters in each race, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election, which will be determined using ranked choice voting.

Sample ballots are available online.

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