More than 6,000 people voted early on the southern Kenai Peninsula

On By Littum

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, and over 6,100 people have already voted in the southern Kenai Peninsula and western Cook Inlet.

The region is divided into two legislative districts. One ranges from Kasilof to Seldovia. The other, House District 37, includes western Cook Inlet as well as Port Graham and Nanwalek.

According to the Alaska Division of Elections, more than 3,446 people voted early in House District 6 Monday afternoon. This district includes Homer, Kasilof and Seldovia. Over 2,600 (2,658) people voted by absentee ballot as of Friday (Nov. 1). It includes mail-in and personal voting.

That’s nearly a third of registered voters in the district, exceeding absentee and early voting from the 2022 election. During that election, about 21% of registered voters voted early or absent.

For House District 5, which includes Kodiak, Seward and Cordova, about 2,400 people voted early or absentee, which is about 17% of registered voters in the district.

Tomorrow is the last day to vote for this year’s election. Polling stations will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Some form of ID is required to vote, usually a voter ID, driver’s license or state ID.

People who live in Kasilof and Clam Gulch will vote at the Kasilof Community Church. Those in Ninilchik should go to the Ninilchik Community Center and voters in Anchor Point should go to the Anchor Point Senior Center.

In the Homer area, residents living in Diamond Ridge will vote at the Homer Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center. City residents will either vote for Homer City Hall or Homer United Methodist Church.

People who live in Kachemak City can vote at the Kachemak Community Center. People in Fox River and the leader of the bay communities can vote for Kachemak Emergency Services.

The polling place on South Kachemak Bay is at the Seldovia Library.

Alaskans are using ranked choice voting this year. This means that voters can rank any number of candidates they want to vote for. If there is no clear winner, voters for the candidate with the fewest votes will instead get their votes for their second choice, if there is one. This continues until one candidate receives a majority of the votes.

You can find out more about ranked choice voting and which polling station to go to Alaska Division of Elections website.