What would a statewide hand-count election look like in Alaska?

Brian Jackson, predetermination programme head for nan Alaska Division of Elections, demonstrates connected Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, really a hand-count process would activity for Alaska’s statesmanlike election. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

On Friday, officials successful Georgia voted to require local elections officials to partially hand-count nan results of nan Nov. 5 wide election.

Since 2020, erstwhile Republican statesmanlike campaigner Donald Trump falsely claimed that his nonaccomplishment was owed to mendacious counts from voting machines, immoderate states and municipalities person begun counting ballots manually, alternatively of by machine.  

The thought has occasionally travel up successful Alaska arsenic well. In 2023, erstwhile authorities lawmakers considered a measure that would require nan authorities to usage open-source voting machines and software, testifiers urged lawmakers to destruct machines altogether. Thus far, nan thought hasn’t received superior consideration.

If Alaska were to instruction a manus count, it apt would consequence successful slower predetermination results but could beryllium cheaper, according to an informal research conducted by nan Alaska Division of Elections and nan acquisition of nan Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which hand-counts section elections.

In consequence to a mobility from nan Alaska Beacon, authorities elections programme head Brian Jackson printed 51 sample 2024 predetermination ballots and walked a newsman done a hand-sorting process for nan statesmanlike election.

More than a 4th of Alaska’s 402 voting precincts already usage manus counts to tally first-choice Election Day results. Those precincts are mostly successful agrarian locations pinch debased turnout.

Urban precincts usage optical-scan machines that tally Election Day results quickly. The section randomly selects immoderate precincts for a hand-count double-check.

This year’s statesmanlike ballot includes eight candidates. Sorting and counting nan 51 first-choice votes for each of those 8 candidates — positive blank ballots, overvoted ones and those pinch stray pen marks — took astir 13 minutes.

In 2020, nan past statesmanlike election, Anchorage precincts mostly saw astatine slightest 500 voters, pinch immoderate seeing 1,000 aliases more.

A thousand-ballot precinct could return much than 200 person-hours to count, based connected nan experiment. 

In addition, this informal research examined only 1 race, and location will beryllium galore connected this year’s ballot — authorities House, authorities Senate, U.S. House, president, positive judicial retention votes and 2 ballot measures. 

Multiply Jackson’s research by 21 — nan number of races successful immoderate parts of nan authorities — past multiply it again by turnout, and nan consequence is simply a agelong clip counting. 

Election Day results are typically disposable successful nan early hours of nan pursuing day, but hand-counting mightiness mean they’re unavailable for a time aliases more. 

Jackson said it’s besides important to deliberation of nan group involved. Right now, authorities manus counts are conducted by nan group who besides ran nan polls connected Election Day. The authorities would request to fto those group slumber and eat, he noted.

In 2022, nan Matanuska-Susitna Borough banned the usage of voting machines for borough elections. Last twelvemonth was its first hand-count election, and nan borough clerk’s agency delivered last results successful 14 days, connected par pinch its capacity each twelvemonth since 2019, erstwhile nan borough started holding its section elections successful November.

Election nighttime results came amazingly quickly, said Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie. With nary authorities predetermination to thrust turnout and only a fistful of races connected nan ballot, nan first hand-count results came wrong a fewer hours, she said.

The Mat-Su gets astir nan rumor of worker exhaustion by hiring 2 groups of workers — 1 for erstwhile nan polls are open, and nan 2nd to count nan ballots erstwhile nan polls close.

Speaking Friday by phone, she said that this year’s predetermination includes much races and coincides pinch nan statesmanlike election, which will thrust up turnout. It remains to beryllium seen really that acquisition will impact nan manus count.

When it comes to cost, she said she thinks there’s “a small bit” of savings erstwhile compared to a instrumentality count, but she didn’t person figures instantly astatine hand. 

The Mat-Su’s acquisition doesn’t representation perfectly to what nan authorities of Alaska would person to do. Many of nan state’s precincts are disconnected nan roadworthy system, and nan Mat-Su doesn’t usage classed prime voting.

State laws and regulations pertaining to predetermination procedures would apt person to alteration to accommodate a regular manus count.

In addition, nan authorities hasn’t drafted an organized process for conducting a afloat classed prime predetermination by hand, thing that Jackson said that would require nan authorities to comingle absentee, questioned, early and Election Day ballots.

Currently, those ballots are kept abstracted to support an unbroken concatenation of custody and place problems much easily.

Even without classed prime voting, nan authorities has constricted caller acquisition pinch manus counts, and that acquisition tends to corroborate nan effectiveness of instrumentality counting.

Four years ago, then-Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer ordered a hand-count audit of each votes formed for and against Ballot Measure 2, which installed classed prime voting and an unfastened primary.

After nan predetermination was certified, elections workers spent days reviewing 361,400 ballots formed successful nan election, and nan manus count was conscionable 24 votes different from nan instrumentality count, confirming some nan accuracy of nan machines and nan transition of Ballot Measure 2. 

A consequent records petition by nan Associated Press recovered that nan audit cost much than $55,000 and that nan lieutenant governor’s agency had really received fewer emails questioning nan original result.