newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A few undeclared voters in House District 7 were confused Tuesday when they were given Republican ballots they didn’t ask for.

One voter demanded a different ballot, but was told she had to take the Republican ballot and therefore only voted on the four ballot measures.

The confusion was a result of a misinformed election worker.

The voters phoned the Alaska Division of Election’s Region Three office, which presides over District 7, and the issue was cleared up almost immediately, said Shelly Growden, elections systems manager in Fairbanks.

The votes will still be counted because the voters had the choice not to vote until after they informed the Alaska Division of Elections of the confusion, but chose to vote anyway.

Voters have a choice of one of three ballots: Democrat, Republican and undeclared.

Any registered voter may choose either a Alaskan Independence, Democrat, Libertarian candidate ballot with ballot measures or a ballot with only ballot measures on it.

Voters registered as Republicans were eligible for the two ballots mentioned above and also the Republican candidate ballot with ballot measures. Registered Democrats were not eligible to vote on the Republican ballot.

According to a Supreme Court law, political parties have a right to limit which voters can vote for a party’s primary candidates.

This is why Republican ballots are not available to registered Democrats.

The law was formed to prevent cross-over voting in primary elections.

In a general election, candidates of all parties are up for a vote before the general public.