Alaska says 7 dead people asked for absentee ballots

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Seven people who are considered dead by the state of Alaska asked for absentee ballots for a hotly contested state House race in last week’s primary election. Two others told election officials they didn’t vote.

The seven applications requesting ballots in the names of dead people were rejected, and no ballots were sent out.

Those were among the irregularities involving House District 15 in Anchorage, where three votes separate the two candidates.

Aaron Weaver holds a narrow lead over fellow Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who was targeted by the state GOP as a turncoat for caucusing with the Democrats.

Alaska state law favors counting questioned ballots so voters are not disenfranchised. The state says it will not reject ballots without clear evidence that the voter didn’t cast the ballot or it is an improper ballot.

“The integrity of our elections is vital to our democracy,” Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke said in a statement. “The division will continue to look into this matter throughout the week and remove any ballots that we determine should not be counted.”

The candidates and the state Republican party were briefed on the situation Monday.

Tuckerman Babcock, the head of the Alaska Republican Party, said he was appalled by the absentee vote situation but has faith in the Division of Elections.

Neither Weaver nor the Alaska GOP had anything to do with the false applications or ballots, he said. “It certainly doesn’t advantage Mr. Weaver,” Babcock said of the novice politician who didn’t even put out yard signs.

The state has about 250 absentee and early votes that don’t have authenticity concerns, said Carol Thompson, the absentee votes manager for the Division of Elections.

Once those are counted, then election workers will count ballots that have concerns to see if it changes the election outcome.