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With the election a week past and the nation moving on, Alaskans are still waiting to find out the outcomes of numerous races.

Fortunately for the state's reputation, the presidential race was easily decided and Alaska has managed to avoid a Florida 2000-style limelight.

But still, state elections officials are struggling to explain why Alaska has yet to count nearly a third of its ballots at a time when no other state is that far behind.

"I wouldn't say we're slow," said Gail Fenumiai, director of the Elections Division. "Statutorily we have until the 15th day after the election."

Nationwide, three U.S. Senate races remain to be decided, enough to give Democrats a veto-proof 60-person majority. In Georgia, a runoff is scheduled between the top two candidates. In Minnesota, an automatic recount is underway.

And in Alaska, the state hasn't gotten around to 30 percent of its ballots, and the number is climbing as additional ballots arrive in the mail.

Fenumiai said she didn't know why other states managed to count their ballots more quickly.

"I don't know how other states count (ballots)," she said. "I don't have any idea how they handle things."

State Republican Party Chief Randy Ruedrich said the slow count is caused by Alaska's unique elections law.

"Our election law is radically different from every other state," he said.

Alaska law gives days after an election for their absentee ballots to arrive in the mail, though they must have been postmarked by Election Day.

"Alaska has always had a long counting process," he said. "In close races Alaska has always been in this situation."

Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, said she hoped Fenumiai could provide advice on changes to get results more quickly.

"I'm sure she'll have good suggestions for us how we can do things more quickly next time," Kerttula said.

One delay seems to stem from the August primary, during which absentee and polling place ballots were counted without making sure that nobody voted twice. In fact, 26 Alaskans did appear to have voted twice.

While that information has been provided to the Department of Law for possible criminal prosecution, there is no way to invalidate those votes.

Fenumiai said they've delayed counting absentee ballots, more than 60,000 of them, until they can compare them to poll books to make sure no one voted twice this time.

"The duplicate voting choice we made was a prudent choice, I think, on the Division of Elections' part," she said.

Fenumiai said she did not know what process other states use to prevent duplicate voting.

Ruedrich said the few "incidental" duplicate votes were probably accidental, but praised the thorough job the Elections Division was doing with the count.

In past years, absentee ballots that arrived by election day would likely have been counted then, which would mean more of the votes were counted sooner.

Still, because Alaska allows ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day, there will always be late votes, he said. Ballots mailed within the United States must arrive by 10 days after the election; foreign ballots have 15 days to arrive.

Not every state provides that much time for ballots to arrive. In Oregon, where all elections are conducted by mail only, ballots must arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Oregon has no major military bases, however, and unlike Alaska has relatively few citizens serving overseas.

Kerttula said she'd like to see counting done as fast as possible, but not at the risk of inaccuracy.

"It's more important that it be done right than it be done fast," she said.

That's despite having as many as half a dozen state House races, and possible control of the body, hanging in the balance.

"We have six races in the House hanging, but I want this race done right," she said.

"Hopefully next time it will move more quickly," Kerttula said.

More than half the remaining ballots are scheduled to be counted today, which should clear up at least some of the outstanding races.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or e-mail patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.