US presidential election: why does Alaska have the slowest counting mode?

AFP

UNITED STATES – The outcome of the American presidential election was still suspended this Friday, November 6 in a few key states where the counting is not complete, and the race too close to declare a winner between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Among these key states is not Alaska, which has yet to deliver its verdict and it should not be for now. Why is it not considered a key state? Quite simply because no Democrat has won it for decades and the outcome of the vote in favor of Donald Trump is in no doubt, but it will bring him only three major voters. Which will have no impact compared to Pennsylvania or Georgia which still have to give 20 and 16 voters.

Why is the countdown so long? It is a combination of two things: uAdditional security procedures, as well as the slowest mail-in ballot times in the United States.

More than 130,000 votes – more than 40% of the state total – will not be counted until at least from next week, and the last ballots will not be until November 18, specifies the Anchorage Daily News.

This delay is explained by the fact that all postal ballots are checked against the electoral district registers on polling day signed by each voter, says the Alaska Elections Division at American Newspaper.

“Ballots are not considered eligible for the count until the search for duplicate voters has been completed,” according to Deputy Attorney General Maria Bahr of the Alaska Department of Laws.

Ballots counted up to 15 days after the poll

In other words: Election officials make sure that a voter has not sent out a postal ballot and voted in person.

If someone has voted in person and voted by mail, their postal vote is rejected, while their in-person vote is counted and their name forwarded to the Alaska Elections Division for further investigation and review. possible prosecutions.

Alaska also counts mail-in ballots that arrive within 10 days of election day (if mailed from the United States) and 15 days of election day (s’ they are posted from outside the United States), provided they are posted on or before election day. The 15-day limit is the most generous in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Tiffany Montemayor, head of public relations for the Elections Division, explains to the Anchorage Daily News that Alaska’s vast geography means that it also takes time to send election materials to regional polling centers where missing ballots are counted.

“We are in a huge state and we are so scattered. Logistics, voter background checks and the large number of ballots all combine to slow the count, ”she sums up.

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