Latest count shows union-backed Suzanne LaFrance maintaining 7-point lead in Anchorage mayor’s race

The Friday release of information from the Anchorage Election Office shows challenger Suzanne LaFrance maintaining her strong lead, although voters for Mayor Dave Bronson have eroded some of it down to a 7-point lead.

Suzanne LaFrance: 41,932, 53,50%

Mayor Dave Bronson: 36,445, 46,50%

The total of votes counted: 78,337 out of 238,050 registered voters

Total votes received as of Friday: ​80,075 (Reasons this number differs from votes counted include things like preliminarily rejected ballots envelopes, ballot envelopes that were rerun or repassed through the sorter, and/or voided ballot envelopes when a voter requests a replacement.)

If you’re in Anchorage and you voted in the recent mayoral runoff, you may have received a letter from the Anchorage Election Office that states your ballot had discrepancies and needs to be “cured.” Then again, you may be out of town and miss the letter.

It’s not the kind of problem that occurs with in-person voting, but with Anchorage’s mail-in system, there are hundreds of ballots that have been determined to be flawed — mostly because signatures didn’t match what the city has on file, but also due to other discrepancies.

The deadline to cure your ballot is May 29 at 4 p.m.

The “cure letter” is sent to the address to which the ballot was mailed and gives the voters options to cure the signature discrepancy.

If you’re unsure, you can use the new technology the voting office has. With TXT2Cure, a voter can cure the discrepancy by texting “Anchorage” to 28683 and click on the link received as a reply, activating a secure portal to affirm the vote.

The voter will enter their 10-digit voter ID number (for some voters, that means adding “000” to the beginning of their voter ID), affirm they returned a ballot for the election, sign the affidavit on their phone, take a photo of an acceptable form of ID, and select “Submit.”

The voter’s information is then electronically transmitted to the Municipality’s Election Center to be processed during business hours. If the voter completes those steps correctly before the deadline of 4 p.m. on May 29, his or her ballot will be counted.

Voters can also sign up for BallotTrax to track their ballot at AnchorageVotes.com. It’s never too late to sign up for BallotTrax. While BallotTrax updates voters on when their ballot is mailed out and received by the MOA Election Team, BallotTrax also notifies voters if their ballot will be counted or if there’s a discrepancy with their ballot return envelope that needs curing. By signing up for BallotTrax now, voters can make sure that their vote will count and act if notified of a discrepancy.

Voters who received, or may receive, a cure letter are encouraged to cure their ballots as soon as possible, the Election Office said in a press release on Wednesday.

For additional Municipal Election information, please visit muni.org/elections, call 907-243-VOTE (8683), or email [email protected].

While it’s statistically impossible for the remaining ballots that have not been “cured” to flip the results, it is important that all votes are counted, even in the current Anchorage scenario that makes it unlikely that all votes are counted, since the mail-in election all-but assures many votes will be thrown out.