More than 14,000 Ballots Are Yet to be Counted

More than 14,000 Ballots Are Yet to be Counted

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By Kirsten Swann

Story Created: Apr 17, 2012 at 8:27 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Apr 18, 2012 at 8:30 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE – The Anchorage Election Commission met briefly Tuesday for a public canvass to make an important announcement - the number of questioned and absentee ballots yet to be counted.

According to the commission, there are more than 14,000 ballots yet to be counted, but more than 600 of those ballots were rejected and Tuesdays canvass was also a chance for those voters to ask that their voices be heard.

There are still plenty of questions following the April 3 Anchorage Municipal Election and finally some of those questions were answered.

"This process will show the ballots to be counted, which ones were rejected, the ones that won't be counted and the reasons why,” said municipal clerk Barbara Gruenstein.

Karli Kay is one of the 609 voters whose ballots were rejected. She received a letter in the mail that said her vote was not counted because she was not properly registered. “I changed my address, but I was a registered voter the entire time.”

Kay arrived five minutes late to the canvas Tuesday and was told she was too late. “I just don’t know what to do at this point.”

She said she's been a registered Anchorage voter since 2008 and has been trying to find out just what happened to her latest ballot.

The election reconvened just to hear her plea, but told her there is really nothing she can do. She could deliver a written appeal to the municipal clerk’s office and the election commission could reconsider her vote.

Now the commission begins the process of tallying questioned ballots and Kay said she just wants hers to be included. "I came today hoping to find some resolution to this and basically I got told you're out of luck."

The assembly was originally scheduled to certify the April 3 election during their meeting Tuesday night, but won't be able to until those last 14,000 votes are tallied.

In the meantime some members said the possibility of an independent investigation into the election is still on the table.
 

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Steve S said on Wednesday, Apr 18 at 7:07 AM

Guess I don't understand why there is any question to Karli Kay's ballot. She didn't register her new address with her voters registration there fore she was not allowed to vote. It's the rules. You move you re-register, those are the rules unless I am misunderstanding something.

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