Election Day in Anchorage: Polls Open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and One ID Is All You Need
Everything Anchorage voters need for Tuesday, Nov. 3: where to vote, what to bring — yes, a fishing license counts — and how to make a mailed ballot count at the deadline.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Anchorage polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any voter in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote. Anchorage voters cast ballots at their assigned polling place, and the Alaska Division of Elections' voter information tools can confirm your location and registration before you leave the house.
Bring one form of identification. Alaska accepts a voter ID card, driver's license, state ID, passport, military ID, or a tribal ID — and, in a provision that surprises newcomers every cycle, a current Alaska hunting or fishing license works as well. Voters without ID can still cast a questioned ballot, which is reviewed after Election Day.
If you are holding a by-mail ballot, the rules are unforgiving about the clock: ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day, Nov. 3, and received by Nov. 13 to count, or hand-delivered to a voting location by 8 p.m. on Election Day. At this point, officials steer late voters toward hand delivery rather than a mailbox.
Alaska's ballot is a ranked-choice ballot for state and federal races: voters may rank candidates in order of preference, and if no candidate wins a majority of first choices, the lowest finisher is eliminated and those ballots move to their next ranking until one candidate holds a majority. Ranking extra choices never hurts your first choice.
What is being decided is a full slate: a new governor, a U.S. Senate seat, Alaska's U.S. House seat, state House and Senate races, judicial retention questions, and two statewide ballot measures — including Ballot Measure 2, which asks whether Alaska should repeal ranked-choice voting and the open primary and return to party primaries. Early and absentee in-person voting locations remain open through Election Day for voters who prefer them.
Results will not be final on election night — they never are in Alaska, where absentee ballots arrive for days afterward. The Division of Elections releases unofficial results as precincts report, and this newsroom will report them as exactly that: unofficial, partial, and subject to change until certification.