The city clerk’s office is offering absentee in-person voting in the May 28 special election to those who are leaving town or are unable to vote in the latter half of May, Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson said today.
Ballots for the special election arrived last week, and several people have voted over the last few days, Peterson said.
On May 13, early in-person voting at regular hours will start at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Anyone who needs to vote prior to that date can contact the clerk’s office to make an appointment to cast an in-person absentee ballot.
The clerk's office provided the following information about the election.
Only registered voters may cast ballots in the special election. Those not registered can do so online, or at city hall prior to the close of business on Monday, April 28.
Early in-person voting at Centennial Hall will start at 8:30 a.m. May 13, and continue on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m through May 27. Early voting at Centennial Hall also will be offered on Saturdays May 17 and May 24 from 9 a.m. to noon. Polls will be closed on Memorial Day, May 26.
A personal representative may pick up a ballot for another person during the same hours that early voting is open at Centennial Hall, or on Election Day. Those ballots will be due back at the hall by 8 p.m. on May 28.
Mail-in ballots are available in the special election. The last day to submit an application for a ballot to vote by mail is 5 p.m. on May 21. Ballots will be mailed out to voters starting this week, Peterson said.
All mail-in ballots must be postmarked no later than May 28 and must be received by the clerk’s office by May 30, or may be hand-delivered to the clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on May 28.
Applications to vote by fax or email are due on May 28. People using this option will waive some of their ballot privacy rights. Fax or email votes must be returned by May 30, and email votes must be completed by using a printer and a scanning device.
On election day polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Centennial Hall.
Peterson said people can register online with the Division of Elections, or stop by city clerk’s office by 5 p.m. Monday with identification to get assistance filling out a state registration form. Sitka Public Library also is offering assistance with voter registration.
The May 28 special election is on a citizen initiative to limit cruise tourism in Sitka.
The yes-or-no question on the ballot will be on adoption of an ordinance that, among other controls, sets aside at least one day a week for no cruise ships; imposes a cap of 4,500 passengers per day; and limits cruise visitors to 300,000 a year.
Almost 600,000 passengers visited Sitka last year, and a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Sitka Dock Co. has set a ceiling of 7,000 passengers per day for this year's cruise season.
Small Town SOUL, a citizen group advocating limits on cruise ship tourism, collected almost 700 petition signatures on an initiative petition to place the issue on the ballot in a special election. The group registered with the state as a political advocacy organization on March 21.
Another group that opposes caps on cruise tourism, Safeguard Sitka’s Future, registered its campaign with the state on April 4.
