By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Voting was brisk today at Harrigan Centennial Hall as Sitkans cast ballots in the state primary and special general election.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.
Sitka Precinct 1 reported a busy morning, and 383 ballots had been cast by 2:30 p.m. Precinct 2 reported “an amazing turnout” with 477 ballots cast in the same period of time. Harrigan Centennial Hall is the polling place for both precincts.
“We’ve had a great turnout with people being awesome and happy to come out and vote,” said Precinct 1 Chair Alix Snelling. She noted that with a number of people in Sitka from out of town, a large number of questioned ballots are being cast.
Precinct 2 Chair Dorothy Orbison said it’s been unusually busy for a primary election. She said she’s seen the same trend with questioned ballots cast by out-of-town visitors attending the National Scientific Coordination Subcommittee meeting down the hall.
The ballot has two sides. In the primary, voters are instructed to “vote for one” in the races for U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor and Lieutenant Governor, State Senator District A and State Representative District 2.
In the state primary, the top four vote getters in each race will advance to the ranked choice general election November 8. The races for State Senate and State House representing Sitka have only two candidates each.
The other side of the ballot is the special general election, which is the state’s first to be conducted with ranked-choice voting. Ordinarily there would be four candidates on the ballot, but one of the four top finishers in the special primary for the House seat left open by the death of Rep. Don Young, withdrew with too little time left for the resulting opening to be filled by another candidate. Therefore voters have only three candidates to rank in order of preference in that race.
