Anchorage Voters Report Citywide Ballot Shortages

April 04, 2012|By Jason Lamb and Chris Klint | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage voters headed to the polls Tuesday evening for the municipal elections reported a wave of ballot shortages across the city, leaving some people unable to vote at their polling locations after a proposition opponent wrongly told people they could register and vote on the same day.

At Dimond High School, voters were being asked to vote questioned ballots. An election worker at the school said questioned ballots can take as long as two weeks to process.

An email sent Tuesday afternoon by Jim Minnery with Protect Your Rights, a group opposing equal-rights initiative Proposition 5, told people they could register and vote on the same day.

"Did you know that people can register and vote at the same location and it doesn't even have to be at their precinct location?" Minnery wrote in the email.

City law, however, requires voters to register for an election 30 days before it occurs -- a fact which makes Minnery's claim false, according to Municipal Clerk Barbara Gruenstein.

"That's not true," Gruenstein said.

While Gruenstein said it wouldn't be accurate to claim people were trying to "crash" the election, she did say she had reason to believe that people from outside Anchorage were attempting to vote.

Gruenstein says city workers were driving additional ballots to affected polling places Tuesday night. She says nearly every precinct in town received questioned ballots, and it is "anybody's guess" how long a complete count of absentee and questioned ballots could take.

Reached for comment Tuesday night, Minnery acknowledged sending the email but denied any conscious plan to crash the election.

"That's a pretty idiotic strategy," Minnery said, noting that any improperly cast votes would be nullified when elections officials examined the votes.

Channel 2’s viewers and Facebook users have reported ballot shortages at numerous polling places across town:

Abbott Loop Elementary School
Alpenglow Elementary School
Bayshore Elementary School
Creekside Elementary School
Huffman Elementary School
Klatt Elementary School
Lake Hood Elementary School
Muldoon Elementary School
Sand Lake Elementary School
Scenic Park Elementary School
Spring Hill Elementary School
Taku Elementary School
Hanshew Middle School
Chugiak High School
Dimond High School
East High School
Service High School
Grace Christian School
Eagle River Library
Loussac Library
Anchorage School District Headquarters
Municipal Public Works Building
Huffman Fire Station
UAA Building (4500 Diplomacy Dr.)
Chester Valley Church
Elizabeth Ann Seton Church
Russian Orthodox Church
Wayland Baptist University
Anchorage YMCA
The Alaska Club South
Eagle River Lions Club

The University of Alaska Anchorage's Campus Center and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport's domestic-terminal car rental area accepted absentee ballots until polls closed at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Editor's note: A redundant listing for the Municipal Public Works Building has been removed from the list of polling places with reported ballot shortages.

This is a developing story. Please check KTUU.com and the Channel 2 newscasts for updates.

Email Jason Lamb

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