More Votes Counted, Tight Races Continue
November 12, 2014
Over 220,000 votes were counted in the General Election held on November 4th and there are still more than 30,000 votes to be counted. The deadline to receive absentee by mail ballots postmarked within the United States is November 14th and officials will count Absentee and Questioned Ballots that have not yet been counted on that day. Other counts of Absenttee and Questioned Ballots are scheduled for November 17-19th. The Alaska Division of Elections has scheduled November 28th as the target election certification date. Until that time, election results are unofficial. In a tight race for Alaska's Governorship, Independent candidate Bill Walker still maintained a lead over Republican Governor Sean Parnell after Tuesday's count. In a prepared statement on November 4th, Governor Parnell said, “With the governor’s race still dependent on more than 30,000 absentee and questioned votes left to count, this is an extremely tight race.” Governor Parnell said on that date, “We will make sure every Alaskan’s vote gets counted and we remain confident that the lead can switch with the number of ballots remaining.” Following the tabulation of absentee and questioned ballots yesterday, with a 4,004 vote lead over Gov. Parnell, Bill Walker announced plans to proceed with organization of a transition team. Although there are several thousand votes yet to be counted, the Walker Mallott team has undertaken these preliminary steps in recognition of a constitutional deadline for swearing in on December 1st. Yesterday, Walker stated,“Today we began the process of contacting Alaskans across the state and asking them to join our transition team. The team we assemble will represent diverse backgrounds and experiences as we chart our path forward for the next four years.” Today at their campaign headquarters, Bill Walker and Byron Mallott announced the co-chairs of their transition team: Ana Hoffman and Rick Halford. Walker noted today that “while the outcome of the election is not yet certain, the constitutional timeline requiring the governor to be sworn in on December 1st is fast approaching, In recognition of that deadline, we have begun the preliminary steps toward transition so that in the event Byron and I are sworn into office, that transition can be as smooth and efficient as possible.” The role of a transition team is to assist a new administration with a smooth and efficient transition into office. This process is critical to an incoming administration so that policy goals and priorities are identified and discussed prior to taking office. Byron Mallott added: “We are excited to begin assembling these great Alaskans from every area of the state. As we have done in our campaign, we will ask our diverse transition team to set aside differences, and instead utilize their rich backgrounds to generate more ideas and better solutions as the Walker Mallott administration begins to take shape.” Tuesday's update also showed Dan Sullivan with 119,579 votes, and Mark Begich with 111,668 votes. Sullivan’s lead shrank slightly, to a 7,991 vote lead over Begich. The Associate Press proclaimed Dan Sullivan as winner of the U.S. Senate seat; hoever, the Alaska Division of Elections has not completed the vote counting and does not plan to certify the election results until November 28th. There are at least 30,000 more votes yet to be counted by election officials. Dan Sullivan issued the following statement in response to the Associated Press declaring him victorious in his bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Begich. “I am deeply humbled and honored to serve my fellow Alaskans in the United States Senate. Our campaign was about opportunity - because I truly believe that there is nothing that is wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with Alaska. “From day one we told our supporters that we would run a campaign that Alaskans could be proud of and that’s what we did. But we couldn’t do it alone and Julie and I are so grateful for the incredible support and encouragement we received from Alaskans in every corner of our state," said Sullivan. “This was a hard fought race. As we move forward, I want to emphasize that my door will always be open to all Alaskans," said Sullivan. Sullivan said, “While we have challenges to address, the opportunities in Alaska and our country are limitless. Today, we are going to begin the process of turning our country around and building a brighter future for our children.” In the local race for the House District 36 seat, on November 4th, Dan Ortiz led Chere Klein by 19 votes. After the count on November 11th, Klein was leading Ortiz by 9 votes. There are still more votes to be counted before certification of a winner in this very tight race.
Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews
|
||