The Division of Elections certified the results of Alaska’s 2020 general election Tuesday, opening the door for the recount process.
House Minority Leader Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, lost to Democratic challenger Liz Snyder in Anchorage’s District 27 by only 13 votes. Anyone can request a recount within five days of certification of votes, Tiffany Montemayor, public relations manager for the Division of Elections previously told the Empire. Recounts of elections with margins of 20 or fewer votes are paid for by the state, she said.
[Lt. Gov. seeks initiative audit to calm questions]
On Nov. 19, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer’s office, which oversees the Division of Elections, announced it would be conducting an audit of the vote on Ballot Measure 2, a package of election reforms that slowly gained enough votes to pass as more by-mail ballots were counted. Meyer said he believed the state had conducted a fair and honest election, but people had raised concerns about Dominion voting machines based on misinformation coming from the national level, The AP reported. The audit will begin Dec. 7, Montemayor said in an email.
Ballot Measure 2, which would implement open primaries, ranked-choice voting and new financial disclosure laws eventually passed but only after several weeks of ballot counting. In an email, Montemayor said DOE has not yet focused on changes included in Ballot Measure 2, but said she believes it won’t impact elections until 2022.
The final winners of Alaska’s 2020 general election as certified by DOE are:
— President: Donald Trump, R.
— U.S. Senate: Dan Sullivan, R.
— U.S. House of Representatives: Don Young, R
Alaska State Senate: Robert Meyers, R, District B – North Pole; David Wilson, R, District D – Wasilla; Shelley Hughes, R, District F – Palmer; Bill Wielechowski, D, District H – Anchorage; Tom Begich, D, District J – Anchorage; Natasha Von Imhof, R, District L – Anchorage; Josh Revak, R, District M – Anchorage; Gary Stevens, R, District P – Kodiak; Bert Stedman, R, District R – Sitka; Donny Olson, D, District T – Golovin.
Meyers was the only non-incumbent to be elected. Begich and Stedman both ran unopposed.
Alaska State House: Bart LeBon, R, District 1 – Fairbanks; Steve Thompson, R, District 2 – Fairbanks; Mike Prax, R, District 3 – North Pole; Grier Hopkins, D, District 4 – Fairbanks; Adam Wool, D, District 5 – Fairbanks; Mike Cronk, R, District 6 – Healy; Christopher Kurka, R, District 7 – Wasilla; Kevin McCabe, R, District 8 – Big Lake; George Rausher, R, District 9 – Sutton; David Eastman, R, District 10 – Wasilla; DeLena Johnson, R, District 11 – Palmer; Cathy Tilton, R, District 12 – Wasilla; Ken McCarty, R, District 13 – Eagle River; Kelly Merrick, R, District 14 – Eagle River; Ivy Sponholz, D, District 16 – Anchorage; Andy Josephson, D, District 17 – Anchorage; Harriet Drummond, D, District 18 – Anchorage; Geran Tarr, D, District 19 – Anchorage; Zack Fields, D, District 20 – Anchorage; Matt Claman, D, District 21 – Anchorage; Sara Rasmussen, R, District 22 – Anchorage; Chris Tuck, D, District 23 – Anchorage; Thomas McKay, R, District 24 – Anchorage; Calvin Schrage, nonpartisan, District 25 – Anchorage; Laddie Shaw, R, District 26 – Anchorage; Liz Snyder, D, District 27 — Anchorage; James Kaufman, R, District 28 — Anchorage; Ben Carpenter, R, District 29 – Nikiski; Ronald Gillham, R, District 30 – Kenai; Sarah Vance, R, District 31 – Homer; Louise Stutes, R, District 32 – Kodiak; Sara Hannan, D, District 33 – Juneau; Andi Story, D, District 34 – Juneau; Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D, District 35 – Sitka; Dan Ortiz, nonpartisan, District 36 – Ketchikan; Bryce Edgmon, undelcared, District 37 – Dillingham; Tiffany Zulkosky, D, District 38 – Bethel; Neal Foster, D, District 39 – Nome.
Cronk, Kaufman, Kurka, McCabe, McCarty, McKay, Schrage and Gillham, are all newcomers to the Legislature. All but Schrage, a nonpartisan, are Republicans. Prax, Tilton, Josephson, Drummond, Tarr, Fields, Shaw, Stutes, Hannan, and Edgmon ran unopposed.
Measure 1: No
Measure 2: Yes
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at psegall@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SegallJnuEmpire.
