{"id":34608,"date":"2018-08-21T06:50:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/home\/the-latest-alaska-erimary-election-2018-live-blog\/"},"modified":"2018-08-22T17:49:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T00:49:15","slug":"the-latest-alaska-erimary-election-2018-live-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/home\/the-latest-alaska-erimary-election-2018-live-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"The Latest: Alaska Primary Election 2018 live blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

10:11 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third round of results is in, and it has all seven precincts reporting for House District 34.<\/p>\n

Story has taken three-quarters of the Democratic votes in the Valley and will be your Democratic candidate for the general election there.<\/p>\n

9:55 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second round of results is in, and Story’s commanding lead is holding up, albeit a bit smaller now.<\/p>\n

Same is true for Hannan.<\/p>\n

9:41 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

That was a bit longer than 10-15 minutes.<\/p>\n

First results are in, with lots of early\/absentee tallies and 72 precincts scattered across the state.<\/p>\n

Here in Juneau, House District 33 is reporting 4 of 11 precincts.<\/p>\n

Sara Hannan has 60 percent of the votes so far, with the three other candidates on the ballot sharing the remaining 40 percent.<\/p>\n

Tom Morphet of Haines has the most, with a bit over 23 percent.<\/p>\n

In House District 34, Andi Story has a commanding lead, but only one precinct is reporting so far.<\/p>\n

She holds more than 80 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

9 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looks like votes are coming in more slowly than expected. Probably 10-15 minutes more until first results.<\/p>\n

8:45 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back at my notes for the day, it seems like turnout is higher, possibly much higher, than it was two years ago, at least in Juneau.<\/p>\n

For example, in 2016, the North Douglas precinct recorded 211 votes, a turnout of 14 percent.<\/p>\n

At 6:40 p.m., with 80 minutes until the polls closed, 373 votes had been cast in the optical scan machine.<\/p>\n

Also in 2016, the Juneau No. 2 precinct, which votes at the Northern Light United church, recorded 423 votes, or about 17.7 percent turnout.<\/p>\n

It had 612 votes cast at 6:25 p.m. today, 95 minutes before polls closed.<\/p>\n

8:20 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lights are blinking on the the modems that accept the results from the precincts. First results are expected to be posted at 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Polls are now closed across most of Alaska.<\/p>\n

7:45 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Alaska Division of Elections folks were nice enough to show myself and KTOO-FM’s Mikko Wilson (who is also watching results from the polling center here) the room where votes are collected from across the state.<\/p>\n

A server accepting 48 separate phone lines (and no connection to the Internet) gets dial tones from the 304 voting precincts that use optical scan and touchscreen voting machines.<\/p>\n

The remaining 137 precincts do things the hard way, with hand counts and telephones.<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve arrived at the Alaska Division of Elections office in downtown Juneau.<\/p>\n

It’s on the fourth floor of the “SPAM can” office building, though after the recent renovations, it’s lost the rounded corners that gave it the name.<\/p>\n

Polls close in 30 minutes, though if you’re in Metlakatla or Hyder (which use Pacific time), they closed 30 minutes ago.<\/p>\n

If you’re in far west portions of House District 37 (which use Hawaii-Aleutians time), they won’t close until 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

7:15 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats are beginning to gather at the coordinated campaign center (aka Jesse Kiehl’s campaign office) in the Assembly Building across Seward Street from Dimond Courthouse.<\/p>\n

Pizza and Kiehl were in attendance, as were several other people.<\/p>\n

Sara Hannan is expected to await results in that office.<\/p>\n

6:40 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Voting seems to be a bit slower at the downtown fire station, home to voting for the North Douglas precinct. Only 373 votes have been cast by 6:40 p.m., plus another 30 questioned ballots. When I arrived, there was no one voting, but four people walked in the door not long after I did.<\/p>\n

6:15 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here at Northern Light United Church, there’s a healthy crowd and even a small line, the first I’ve seen today.<\/p>\n

That might be because the polling place is in a slightly different spot within the building while the elevator is under construction.<\/p>\n

It could also be because there’s been a pretty big crowd of voters.<\/p>\n

At 6:25 p.m., 612 voters had cast regular votes, and another 23 had cast questioned ballots or special needs ballots there.<\/p>\n

Phil Bennett, one of those voters, said she came to the polls because she wanted to cast a vote for Mead Treadwell.<\/p>\n

She said it’s important to se him on the general election ticket and thinks he would be a good match for incumbent Gov. Bill Walker.<\/p>\n

Karen Blejwas, meanwhile, said her top issues this fall are finding revenue sources for the state, stopping budget cuts and seeing more support for local governments.<\/p>\n

5 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a bit of a break, we’re back in action here at the liveblog.<\/p>\n

The expected rain has moved across the capital city, and if you’re wondering what effect that will have on the election … probably not much<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said, it’s making for damp conditions for the sign wavers who are back for the evening rush hour.<\/p>\n

Photographer Michael Penn, who has been covering the city this afternoon, spotted Andi Story and Rob Edwardson waving signs side by side in the rain.<\/p>\n

They were getting pounded face-on but were all smiles, he said.<\/p>\n

Also there was Rep. Justin Parish, D-Juneau.<\/p>\n

Both Story and Edwardson are seeking to replace Parish, and Edwardson is Parish’s former chief of staff.<\/p>\n

1:10 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here at Aldersgate, 133 ballots have been cast by 1:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

(Again, that doesn’t count absentees or questioned ballots.)<\/p>\n

12:30 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Republican House District 34 candidate Jerry Nankervis is casting his vote.<\/p>\n

From a political standpoint, Nankervis has had a quiet morning.<\/p>\n

He is running unopposed for the Republican nomination — he’s the only Republican candidate in either Juneau House district, in fact — and doesn’t believe in sign-waving.<\/p>\n

As a former police officer, he said, he doesn’t think sign-waving jives with city ordinances intended to prevent people from distracting drivers on the road.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t been a quiet morning overall, however.<\/p>\n

Instead of campaigning this morning, he’s been working on city business.<\/p>\n

Nankervis is Juneau’s deputy mayor, and last night had a lengthy Assembly meeting.<\/p>\n

He also had to deal with a mess caused by his puppy and do some housework before the rain arrives this afternoon.<\/p>\n

He said his first responsibility is to the job he already has (deputy mayor), and he’s heard enough city problems while door-knocking as a House candidate that he feels he needs to address those separately from his campaign.<\/p>\n

12 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lunchtime rush is on at the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum, which holds the polling place for the Juneau No. 1 precinct.<\/p>\n

Voters walk across the floor-length map of Alaska, underneath the Eagle Tree, and enter a room across the hall from the conservation lab to cast their votes.<\/p>\n

Among the voters are Rocky Holmes and Peggy Bray.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of choices,” Holmes said. “We’re liberal, and we picked the candidates we thought were the most liberal.”<\/p>\n

Overall this fall, both Holmes and Bray said they think the most important thing in a federal candidate is whether they will be “a check on Trump.”<\/p>\n

\n

Voting in Juneau seems to be going smooth through the morning \u2014 haven\u2019t seen any long lines or trouble. #akelect<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pR8uQZx1WN<\/a><\/p>\n

— James Brooks (@AK_OK) August 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n