Voting Brisk in Sitka on U.S. Election Eve

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Category: News

Created on Monday, 04 November 2024 15:50

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By Sentinel Staff
Scores of Sitkans cast ballots at Harrigan Centennial Hall today, the last day for early voting in Tuesday’s national general election.
By 2 p.m. today some 160 Sitkans had voted and more were in line, bringing the total number to about 1,600 ballots cast since early voting opened Oct. 21, election officials said.

Poll workers Cheryl Vastola and Irene Ferguson, at left, help early voters cast their ballots this afternoon at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Turnout has been heavy today on the final early voting day before the national election. Close to 1,600 people have cast early ballots so far in Sitka. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Harrigan Centennial Hall in the election to choose a president and vice president, as well as a U.S. Representative and a Sitka representative to the state Legislature.
Also on the ballot are two state ballot measures and the retention of a number of judges.
Both of Sitka’s election precincts are at Centennial Hall.
Alaska uses the ranked choice voting system, in which voters can make their own choices among candidates of all political parties or running as nonpartisan.
The ballot in Sitka has eight choices for president/vice president, four for U.S. representative, and one for state representative. Rebecca Himschoot, a nonpartisan, is unopposed for election to her second term in the House.
The ballot measures are yes or no questions, as are the retention of Alaska Supreme Court justices, Alaska Court of Appeals judges, and district court judges in the First Judicial District.
Ballot Measure 1 would raise the minimum wage to $13 in 2025, $14 in 2025 and $15 in 2027, and increase with inflation after that. The minimum wage in Alaska “would always be at least $2 above that.
Ballot Measure 2 would repeal ranked choice voting. “This act would get rid of open primary elections and ranked choice general elections. It would bring back political party primaries and single-choice general elections,” says the summary of the proposition as it appears on the ballot.