Voters in Anchorage are waiting hours to cast early ballots, consistent with the national trend

On Sunday afternoon, the line of voters waiting to cast their ballots at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Midtown Anchorage snaked around the building and partially down the block. On a winter day, people waited two hours or more to cast their votes early, a scene that has played out on several days here recently and reflects trends across the country.

More Americans – and more Alaskans – are choosing to vote earlier this year than in previous elections.

“I don’t want to leave it to chance,” Sonja Kent said as she stood in line Sunday. If she had known how long the wait would be, she said she would have dressed warmer. “We always voted on Election Day, but I think the extra snow we had and the sheer desire to make sure we had the opportunity to vote made us want to get out earlier than Tuesday.”

As of Sunday evening, more than 23,900 voters in the Anchorage area and more than 61,900 people statewide had cast early ballots, said Jeff Congdon, the regional director who leads the Anchorage office. The numbers do not include mail-in ballots, he said. On Sunday alone, 672 people showed up to vote in Anchorage and 2,046 people statewide, he said. During the week, the number of early voters in Anchorage topped a thousand almost every day, he said.

Alaska surpassed its early voting record for 2020 on Saturday, Congdon said.

“This is different than previous years,” Congdon said. “Across the country we are seeing a huge push for early voting.”

Nationwide, more than 74 million Americans had cast their votes as of Saturday — nearly 47% of all votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.

(With millions of Americans voting early, Election Day has turned into election season.)

For Anchorage voters surveyed Sunday, demand for jobs and a sense of heightened urgency surrounding the election were among the reasons that drove them to vote early.

“We work during the week,” Dawn Wroblewski said. “Sunday is the only day we can vote.”

Another first-time voter, Josephine Immamak, said: “I just wanted to get it out of my system. Watching the news so often gives me a migraine just to see what's going on. So (I wanted to) confirm with myself that, hey, I did my part, I can just leave it alone.”

Immamak later said she voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, whose policies she said could better protect women's health.

Michael Sexton said he came to vote early because bad weather was forecast earlier in the week and because he felt it was important to ensure he fulfilled his civic duty.

“This year is a little different,” said Sexton, who said he plans to vote for former President Donald Trump. “I think this is a unique situation for Alaska and everyone else.” …The economy … that's number one for me. … I'm just one, and all I can do is vote, so that's my job.”

(Early voting is increasing, but not in rural Alaska)

Some voters in line Sunday were entertained by a raven pushing snow from the roof onto the sidewalk.

“I have a big snowball on my shoulder,” said Will Elliott, who was waiting with his wife, Sarah Sjostedt, and their 3-year-old daughter, Lane.

The family decided to vote early because they had more time on the weekend and because they wanted to make it a family activity, Sjostedt said. Her daughter, dressed in a tutu under a bright orange jacket, held a coloring book, pencils and stickers to pass the time.

“It is important for us that our daughter experiences the electoral process,” said Sjostedt. “We thought we could do it as a family today.”

After the vote, Kean and Stephanie Hall were in the parking lot taking photos of each other with “I Voted” stickers. The couple normally votes on Election Day, but a busy work schedule prevented them from voting in the last election cycle. That's why this year they had to wait in line for two and a half hours.

“Work, life happens,” Keon Hall said. “I was very disappointed that I didn't do my civic duty, so I thought, 'Look, we need to be proactive'” this year.

Stephanie Hall, a teacher, said she and her husband, an executive director at Alaska Dinner Factory, have different political views but respect each other's decisions and agree on the importance of voting.

“We strongly believe that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain or complain,” she said. “This year we're saying, OK, no matter what we're going through, we're going to vote. We’ll do it early.”

Early voting continues Monday at several locations in Anchorage. Polling stations are open on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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