ANCHORAGE — Alaskans will go to the polls today to help settle the general election fields for U.S. Senate and House races, and in some cases, they likely will elect members to the state Legislature.
Sixteen legislative races could be decided Tuesday, barring any write-in bids for the November general election.
The U.S. Senate and House races will be on the top of Tuesday’s ballot in a campaign season that has lacked the fireworks of two years ago, when three prominent Republicans were vying to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.
Leading up to her primary, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was visiting Alaska communities by RV, while Rep. Don Young on Monday was headed to his hometown of Fort Yukon, a rural Interior community of about 560 people where Young spokesman Matt Shuckerow said Young traditionally spends his primaries.
Murkowski and Young, both Republicans, face contested primaries though none of their opponents have mounted high-profile challenges. Both campaigns were encouraging Alaskans to get out and vote, as were the state Republican and Democratic parties.
The primary also will determine the Democratic and Libertarian candidates for the top-ticket races. Edgar Blatchford and Ray Metcalfe are seeking the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate contest. Steve Lindbeck is the most prominent of the three Democrats in the U.S. House race.
Already assured a spot on the November general election ballot are a smattering of independent candidates in the Senate race and at least one independent in the House race. Independents do not go through the primary process.
Primary voter turnout has varied widely, according to Alaska’s Division of Elections, ranging in recent years from 17 percent in 2000 to nearly 41 percent in 2008. It was 25 percent during the last presidential year, in 2012. There are no initiatives on Tuesday’s ballot, and division Director Josie Bahnke said traffic at early voting sites has been slow so far.
Several legislative races will be closely watched Tuesday, with a dozen lawmakers facing primary challenges in their re-election bids and the state Republican and Democratic parties taking the unusual step of picking sides in some of the races.
Democrats, aiming for a leadership shake-up of the Republican-led Legislature, are hoping for a bipartisan reorganization.
State GOP chairman Tuckerman Babcock said Democrats can’t win a majority of legislative seats on their own and are trying to pin the blame for the gridlock in Juneau on Republicans, which he said is a distortion.
FILE- In this Oct. 16, 2015, file photo, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, speaks to reporters at the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Young faces only token opposition in Tuesday’s Republican primary as seeks a 23rd term in the U.S. House. (AP File Photo/Mark Thiessen)
