Quarantined? In isolation? Here’s how you can vote.

Anchorage School District nurse Elida Spiro sits in an empty room at the Anchorage Health Department Tuesday, March 31, 2020 as she makes contact with a person that has been quarantined due to possible exposure to Covid-19. (Robert DeBerry/ASD)

If you’re in quarantine or isolation because of COVID-19 and can’t get to the polls, here are two ways to cast your vote.

Special needs ballot

special needs ballot is for people who can’t get to the polls because of illness, age or disability. Here’s how it works.

The State of Alaska Division of Elections’ 2020 “I Voted” sticker, created by Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee.

You select someone you trust to pick up a special needs ballot at the polls. This ballot can be picked up at an early voting location or at an Election Day polling place.

The person who picks up your ballot is called your personal representative. According to the Alaska Division of Elections, this person “can be anyone except a candidate for office in the election, your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union.”

Your personal representative brings you the special needs ballot. You fill it out, place it in the secrecy sleeve and then seal it in the special needs envelope. You then fill out the outside of the envelope, and your personal representative signs the envelope as your witness.

Your personal representative must return the special needs ballot to a polling location before 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.

The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot has passed, but there is another option for voting while in quarantine.

Electronic transmission

Through Nov. 2, Alaskans can request a ballot be emailed or faxed to them. The voter can then print the ballot, fill it out and either fax or physically mail the ballot to the Alaska Division of Elections. These ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3. To request a ballot via email or fax, fill out this form.

The U.S. Postal Service encourages voters to mail ballots early and warns that ballots dropped in the mailbox on Election Day might not be postmarked for that date. Mail sent in Alaska gets postmarked in Anchorage, but voters can request that a local postal worker postmark their ballots by hand at their local post office. People in quarantine or isolation can ask someone they trust to get their ballot postmarked.

KYUK - Bethel

KYUK is our partner station in Bethel. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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