Sitka’s municipal election is days away, but polls are already open, and this year early voting looks a bit different.
Before, Sitka’s version of “early voting” was really just absentee in-person. Voters would fill out a ballot, it would be slipped into an envelope and counted with the mail-in absentee ballots several days after the election. An uptick in early voting during the pandemic made local elections a bit tougher to call on election night.
Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to explain how this year, Sitka’s early voting will look exactly like it does on election night.
“You’re going to come in, show your ID, sign the register, get your ballot, go to the booth. And when you come out from the voting booth, you’ll walk over to the ballot box and then cast your ballot. Those results will be displayed on election night on October 3, so rather than waiting until the Friday after the election to count all of these ballots from the two week period prior to the election, we’ll be actually doing that on election night,” Peterson says.
Despite making the process a little easier, Peterson says voter turnout is down so far this year.
“From 2020 through last year, we had about an equal amount of voters that voted ahead of time, and then that same amount on election day. So it’s been about half and half,” she says. “This year is a little bit different. Our voter turnout right now is super low. We’re at about 160 voters right now. So get out there, folks!”
Four candidates are vying for three open seats on the Sitka Assembly. One candidate and an official write-in are in the running for three open seats on the Sitka School board. And voters will also weigh in on two ballot propositions. You can learn more about the candidates and ballot props at the KCAW Election Center. Sitka’s Municipal Election is Tuesday October 3.
