Senate Race, Ballot Measures Draw Voters to Polls
Tuesday, November 04 2014
Polls are open until 8 p.m. at Unalaska City Hall. (Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)
Update, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday: The polls have closed at Unalaska's City Hall, and preliminary election results are in.
A total of 665 Unalaskans cast their ballots in person on Tuesday. Another 49 voted by mail, and 46 voters cast questioned ballots that will be sent to Nome for an official count.
The figures listed below do not include absentee or questioned ballots. Check back with KUCB for more on the results.
U.S. Senate
Mark Begich (D): 376
Dan Sullivan (R): 227
Mark S. Fish (Lib.): 34
Ted Gianoutsos (I): 16
Write-ins: 1
U.S. House of Representatives
Forrest Dunbar (D): 302
Don Young (R): 297
Jim C. McDermott (Lib.): 50
Write-ins: 1
Governor/Lt. Governor
Sean Parnell/Dan Sullivan (R): 276
Bill Walker/Byron Mallott (D): 264
Maria Rensel/J.R. Myers (AK Const. Party): 57
Carolyn Clift/Andrew Lee (Lib.): 45
Write-ins: 3
Ballot measure 2: Marijuana legalization
Yes: 369
No: 271
Ballot measure 3: Minimum wage increase
Yes: 554
No: 88
Ballot measure 4: Bristol Bay protections
Yes: 450
No: 148
Update, 5 p.m. Tuesday: As polls begin to close for the midterm election in the Lower 48, there are still a few hours left to vote in Alaska. As of this afternoon, almost 500 Unalaskans had already turned out to cast ballots.
Archie Stepp, who owns local construction company Northern Mechanical, voted today like he says he's been doing for more than 50 years.
"You have no reason to complain about anything that elected officials do unless you vote," he said outside City Hall this afternoon.
Stepp's a Republican and part-time Anchorage resident. He calls incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich "the worst mayor" that city ever had, citing high property taxes as a reason. As for Begich’s Senate challenger, Republican Dan Sullivan:
"He’s not [President] Obama’s yes-man," Stepp said. "That’s the big thing."
The Senate race wasn't all that drew voters to the polls today. The ballot also includes an initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Alaska, which has been a hot topic in Unalaska in recent weeks.
UniSea processing plant worker Levell Curtis Standifer, Jr. voted ‘no’ on the proposal, saying it was too dangerous for rural Alaska:
"Drugs have no place in society, because it creates crime," he said. "I understand that the money would be good for taxes, jobs, but the bottom line is -- people would resort to illegal activity with the marijuana thing."
The last time a marijuana measure was on the table, in 2004, Alaskans voted it down -- though just over half of Unalaska voters approved it.
They'll have until 8 p.m. tonight to cast their ballots at City Hall.
Update, 12 p.m. Tuesday: It’s midterm election day in Alaska. More than 20,000 ballots have already been cast in early voting -- the second-highest tally in state history.
But in Unalaska, there was no early voting program. And with the exception of about 50 absentee voters, most Unalaskans were taking to the polls at City Hall today, weighing in on congressional races and key ballot initiatives. About 200 residents had cast ballots as of noon.
Fredric Elias made the trip on foot. The 63-year-old retiree voted for Democrats almost across the board -- even though he says their policies aren’t perfect.
“Like, Obamacare has things that probably need fixing,” he said outside the polls this morning. “But you know, just work on it. It’s something. At least it’s something different. The Republicans -- they’re always like demonizing the president. But they don’t ever offer any new ideas."
Bill Shaishnikoff didn’t vote for a single party. But he was firm in his support for Alaska’s incumbents in Congress:
“I like [Senator] Mark Begich. I’ve always liked his progress ever since he was the mayor [in Anchorage]. I think he advocates the fishing industry -- as does [Representative] Don Young,” Shaishnikoff said today. “And they have so much momentum going into this election and there is so much undone, that I would hate for them to be voted out and we have to start all over.”
Shaishnikoff and his wife own a quarry in Captains Bay. When it came to the ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage, Diane Shaishnikoff says she could see drawbacks for the business sector. But:
“Just because the cost of living in Alaska is so high, I did vote for that,” she said.
Either way, nothing’s certain until the last polls close -- and down the chain in Adak, that’ll happen later than anywhere else in the country. Folks there can cast ballots until 8 p.m. Adak time, which is 9 p.m. Alaska time.
It means Adak’s 60 or so eligible voters will be the last to weigh in on one of the nation’s most volatile Senate races -- between Begich, and Republican Dan Sullivan.
But Adak city clerk Debra Sharrah says besides a lot of TV ads, that contest hasn’t generated much buzz in town. She says residents are more invested in the ballot measures -- like minimum wage, and marijuana legalization -- and the governor’s race, between incumbent Sean Parnell and unaffiliated challenger Bill Walker.
In Unalaska, polls are open until 8 p.m. local time. You’ll need a government-issued form of ID to vote. People who are registered somewhere else in the state can still cast a ballot.
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