AK-AL: After (Nearly) Full Count, Young Leads by 239 Votes

The Alaska Division of Elections has just updated the primary results for the state’s at-large House race:

Don Young: 48,006 (45.45%)

Sean Parnell: 47,767 (45.22%)

Gabrielle LeDoux: 9,856 (9.33%)

That looks to be just about it, although the state is still accepting oversees absentee ballots until Wednesday, when the count will be made final.

All told, Young has made a net gain of 21 votes since election night. However, given that either Parnell or ten petitioning voters can request a state-paid recount if the margin is tighter than 0.5% (as is the case here), a recount seems likely.

So far, so good for Ethan Berkowitz.

Update: The Anchorage Daily News writes that “an uncertain number of absentees and questioned ballots remain to be counted”.

Later Update: With another cluster of votes counted, Young’s lead has expanded from 172 to 239 votes.

22 thoughts on “AK-AL: After (Nearly) Full Count, Young Leads by 239 Votes”

  2. This is great news, and while a recount is inevitable, given the lack of movement after counting an additional 25,000 ballots, Young may be in the cat-bird’s seat.  But hey, let’s go to a recount and drag the process out for another couple weeks.  Such a turn of events would not benefit either Young or Parnell.

    While it is impossible to know, I still think Young got a big boast from the remaining absentees and those provisional votes in Wrangell and Petersburg.  Here’s guessing Parnell scooped up more votes from the questionable ballots, which can be tabulated however the (Parnell-controlled) division of elections sees fit.  

  3. As I understand it, Stevens has his trial before the election.  If found not guilty, obviously he stays the candidate. The not guilty verdict certainly helps him and it may be a very close election.

    If found guilty, however, what happens?  Presumably he withdraws.  Parnell seems like the obvious choice for the party to rally around if he loses to Young.

    Does the Republican party select Stevens’s replacement and that person’s name gets on the ballot?  Or, is like Delay’s house district in 2006 where his name stayed on the ballot and Republicans ran a write-in campaign?  

  4. Recounts rarely upset results.  I hope Berkowitz is already blitzing with positive ads and speaking in general about being a congressman that Alaska can be proud of.

  5. I have never voted by mail. I understand that the postmark is important in voting by mail. times the mail I receive does not have a clean mark. What happens in this case for a mailed in vote.

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