Election officials hope for higher voter turnout in Juneau’s first by-mail election

Voters wearing masks visit the Mendenhall Valley Public Library vote center for in-person voting and to drop off their ballots in Juneau’s first by-mail city election on Oct. 6, 2020. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/KTOO)

Voters cast their last minute ballots Tuesday in Juneau’s first-ever by mail election. 

Even though voters could return ballots by mail or at dropboxes, the city had two vote centers open for in-person voting. 

City Clerk Beth McEwen said voting was steady at City Hall and the Mendenhall Valley Library throughout the day. As of last week, about a quarter of registered voters had returned their ballots.

“Hopefully this has been an increase in voter turnout. I won’t know until we see the final numbers, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” McEwen said. 

Last year’s local election voter turnout was 31%.

Vote-by-mail has been touted by election officials around the U.S. to improve voter turnout by making it easier to vote. 

But it didn’t work out that way for some people. 

Greg and Christy Gendron stood in line with about 30 other people at the Mendenhall Valley Library. They were part of a rush of people who showed up to vote after 5 p.m.  They brought their toddler and 7-year-old daughter along with them. 

Christy said she got her ballot in the mail, but Greg didn’t. So they decided it would be easier to vote in person. But, they also didn’t realize this year’s election was primarily by-mail. 

“We initially went to our normal polling place,” Christy said. 

And, they prefer to vote in person. Christy said it makes more of an impression on the kids to get them interested in voting. 

“If we lived somewhere where there was an explosion of COVID[-19] cases, we would vote by mail,” she said. “I would rather do it in Juneau, in person. I mean, when in Juneau have you ever had to wait in line for more than 20 minutes.”

Seven candidates are running for three open Juneau Assembly seats this year. There were also two uncontested school board seats and two ballot propositions on the ballot.

Nancy Sutch stopped by City Hall to cast her vote. 

“I think they had it worked out pretty slick to accommodate both me voting in person and dropping off my other household members’ ballots,” Sutch said. “It was quick and it was easy.”

The vote centers and ballot drop boxes were open until 8 p.m. Ballots returned by mail had to be postmarked by Tuesday. 

The Juneau Assembly approved holding this year’s election by mail earlier this year to limit the chance of exposure to COVID-19 for poll workers and voters. 

The city partnered with Anchorage election officials. Anchorage has been holding local elections by mail since 2018. 

Juneau ballots returned by mail go straight to the Anchorage Vote Center. Another five crates of ballots have already been delivered there as well, according to McEwen. 

After gathering the remaining ballots, she and another city elections staffer will accompany them to Anchorage via Alaska Airlines on Thursday. 

Ballot processing will take place Friday, with initial results expected in the afternoon. Those will remain unofficial until the election is certified Oct. 20. 

For more information about this year’s local election and the candidates running, visit ktoo.org/elections

Reporters Jeremy Hsieh and Rashah McChesney contributed to this report.

This post has been updated.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications