Politics

Alaska Division of Elections apologizes after Anchorage House candidate is left out of voter pamphlet

The Alaska Division of Elections will send a special letter to some Anchorage voters after Alaskan Independence Party candidate Timothy Huit was left out of the state’s official voter information pamphlet.

Huit is running for the House of Representatives seat held by Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage. Republican candidate Kathy Henslee is also running for the seat.

“The division apologizes to you for the error with the pamphlet,” said Gail Fenumiai, director of the elections division, in a Sunday email to Huit.

She said she found out about the mistake Friday, and Huit’s information will be mailed to “the same list of voter households in House District 23 that received the pamphlet with your candidate page missing.”

Fenumiai’s message responded to one sent by Huit to the Division of Elections and several reporters earlier in the day.

Tiffany Montemayor, communications director for the Division of Elections, confirmed the mailing on Monday and said it will include an explanation of the mistake.

On Monday, Huit said that although the division is fixing the problem, “I still think it’s damaged my ability to reach people. Even if they print it and send it out to people, there’s people who are filling out their ballots, voting absentee right now.”

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He said he’s looking for an attorney who can offer him options. In his Sunday message to Fenumiai, he suggested that he could ask for a special election.

“I may do that,” he said Monday. “Or even contest the election.”

Huit said he’s dissatisfied with the division’s performance this year. After the primary, he was briefly left off the state’s online list of candidates. He also is unhappy with the way the state unveiled new-design election ballots this year. The design was unsuccessfully challenged in court.

The Huit mistake isn’t the only problem the state has had with mailers this year. Last week, the Division resent 4,800 election pamphlets to Palmer-area households because those pamphlets did not contain information about House District 9 candidates. The mailing was first reported by KUAC-FM.

The owner of City Taxi Dispatch and a former Anchorage mayoral candidate, Huit said errors like those add up.

“I’m just trying to campaign here,” he said.

James Brooks

James Brooks was a Juneau-based reporter for the ADN from 2018 to May 2022.

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