PRESS RELEASES from Alaska Division of Elections

STATE OF ALASKA
Division of Elections
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Revised News Release for Immediate Release
December 3, 2008

CONTACT: Gail Fenumiai, Director (907) 465-4611
Shelly Growden, Election Systems Manager (907) 451-2872

Division of Elections Certifies 2008 General Election


The bi-partisan State Ballot Review Board has completed a thorough review of the 2008 General election. With the review done, the Director of the Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, announced today that the Division of Elections has certified the 2008 General election. There were 327,341 ballots cast in the 2008 General election for a final turnout of 66.03%.

This election generated a record number of voters who voted early, absentee or questioned ballots; over 119,000, compared to 2004 in which there were approximately 85,000. Although the Division received a record number of these ballots for the 2008 General election, the statutorily mandated time to process the ballots was still the same. Under state law, the Division’s regional offices must have ballots processed and counted within 15 days following the election. “It takes a
tremendous effort from the regional office staff and bi-partisan review boards to complete the review and counting of early, absentee and questioned ballots. “I am very pleased that the Division was able to process and count 34,000 more early, absentee and questioned ballots than we did during the 2004 General election and we accomplished this ahead of the statutory deadline,” said Fenumiai.

As part of the election certification process, the Division also performed a hand-count verification of 5% of the ballots cast at the polls in each of the state’s 40 house districts. This verification is done to ensure the election results are accurate. Although not mandated by statute, the Division added absentee, questioned and early ballots to the hand-count verification process. “With a record number of voters casting a ballot outside of the normal process of going to their assigned polling place, the Division felt it was critical to perform hand-count verification on some of the absentee, questioned and early ballots rather than just the ballots voted at the polls,” said Shelly Growden, the Division’s Election System Manger. The hand-count of the 2008 General election ballots verified that the state’s ballot tabulation system accurately counted and reported election results.

With all the processes and procedures that must be completed by the Division and the review boards following the election, Alaska’s certification process is quite extensive and thorough. Fenumiai expressed gratitude and thanks for the thousands of election workers, review board members and Division staff who helped make the 2008 elections successful. “We could not have elections without the dedication and hard-work of our election workers and staff,” said Fenumiai.



STATE OF ALASKA
Division of Elections
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
News Release for Immediate Release
November 10, 2008

CONTACT: Gail Fenumiai, Director (907) 465-4611
Shelly Growden, Election Systems Manager (907) 451-2872
More Ballots Being Counted

The Director of the Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, announced today that the Division of Elections has completed a large portion of the review of absentee and early voters’ names against the registry of those voting at the polls on Election Day and will be ready to count a substantial number of outstanding ballots on Wednesday, November 12th.

The division did not count any absentee ballots election night because of the need to cross-check the names of absentee and early voters against the precinct registers to ensure the principal of one-person, one-vote.

To date, the division has over 70,000 outstanding absentee and early votes to count statewide. By law, the division has until November 19th to review and count these ballots. With the review of a large portion of these outstanding ballots being complete, the division feels it is in the best interest of the public, political parties and candidates to count ballots early.

The ballots being counted on Wednesday, November 12th will include the outstanding absentee and early ballots received through November 4th in those districts where the voter history has been done and the cross-checking of names done. The division anticipates that approximately 50,000 ballots statewide will be counted on November 12th.