Print article The most senior Republican in the Alaska House of Representatives has lost his reelection bid, the Alaska Supreme Court confirmed Friday. In a brief order, the court said Anchorage Rep. Lance Pruitt “has not met his burden to sustain an election contest,” thus confirming an 11-vote victory by Democratic challenger and Rep.-elect Liz Snyder. “It was great to see that come out the way we anticipated it,” Snyder said. Had Pruitt prevailed, it could have been enough to break a 20-20 House of Representatives tie in favor of Republicans. Twenty-one votes are needed to control the House, which is currently divided between a 20-member Republican wing and a coalition including Snyder, 15 other Democrats, three independents and one Republican. Two years ago, a similar deadlock lasted for a month before Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, was re-elected Speaker of the House.
Anchorage House election decided by 11 votes heads to Alaska Supreme Court
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Print article Anchorage Superior Court Judge Josie Garton said Tuesday that she found no flaws with the way the Alaska Division of Elections counted votes in the close legislative race between incumbent state Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage and Democratic challenger Liz Snyder. In a separate order, she also concluded that Pruitt’s attorneys failed to demonstrate that a late polling place change altered the result of the election. Snyder defeated Pruitt by 11 votes in the final, recounted result, but Pruitt launched a pair of legal challenges that dispute both the final vote count and the way the election was conducted. In both cases, Garton confirmed Snyder’s victory.
But overcoming obstacles to cast a ballot in the first place is not an uncommon experience for many of the estimated 6.8 million Native American individuals residing in the United States and members of the 574 federally-recognized Native tribes, according to activists and experts interviewed by Insider.
An extensive report conducted by the Native American Voting Rights Coalition, a project of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), based on two years of research in Native communities across the country and released in June, found that Native voters still face inequitable access to registering to vote, casting a vote, and having their vote count.
Print article Alaska’s new election system was more than 99% accurate in counting the votes for Ballot Measure 2, according to a hand audit ordered by Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer. Election workers hand-counting each of the 361,400 ballots cast in this year’s election came up with a total only 24 votes that were different from the results certified by the Alaska Division of Elections. The measure passed by a 50.6-49.4 margin, according to the final tally. “This audit showed what the division knew it would; that our equipment worked properly, and the 2020 general election was administered accurately and fairly in the state of Alaska,” said Gail Fenumiai, director of the Division of Elections, in a prepared statement.
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