Thanks to the extended time to count all the ballots, Republican David Nelson beat the incumbent Democrat by 23 votes in House District 18, JBER in East Anchorage. The same thing happened about 40 years ago, allowing my friend Rep. Terry Martin to squeak out a reelection victory.
The margin of victory in both cases was due to overseas absentees, most of them military. The Division of Elections allows extra time in order to allow all these late arriving ballots to be counted. For Republicans, it’s worth the wait.
These are mostly men and women who established Alaska residency while they were stationed here. When they’re transferred overseas, they maintain their Alaska residency. Many of them do this in order to continue their eligibility for PFD’s. They all vote in order to bolster their claim to Alaska residency.
Their main issue, unsurprisingly, is the PFD. Since Republicans have always been the champions of the PFD (initiated by Republican Governor Jay Hammond in 1980), and Democrats largely hostile, they all vote Republican.
Representative-elect Nelson should send them all a thank you card.
So, let’s stop with all the carping about the long wait. It’s only a problem if the good people at the Division of Elections need the extra time to steal an election. I don’t believe this has ever happened.
Some old-timers claim Jay Hammond stole the Republican primary election from Wally Hickel in 1978. He only won by 98 votes. His Attorney General, Av Gross, was a little slippery, but I don’t believe the election was stolen.
All of us who worked on Hammond’s campaign (including me – I was Chairman of “Hands for Hammond”) like to think that our efforts were responsible for his victory.
And the PFD.
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