ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Democrat U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola was leading in first-choice votes in preliminary returns from Tuesday’s election, with over 200,000 ballots counted and thousands still left to be tallied.
Peltola had 47% of first-choice votes with 399 of 402 precincts reporting. Under Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, results aren’t final until a candidate has garnered more than 50% of votes. If the leading candidate doesn’t cross that threshold, the winner will be determined by second- and third-choice votes, which will be tallied by election officials on Nov. 23.
Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin led fellow Republican Nick Begich III in early vote counts. Palin was in second place with nearly 27% of first-choice votes to Begich’s 24%. Libertarian Chris Bye trailed with less than 2% of first-choice votes and stands to be the first candidate eliminated in the ranked choice tabulation.
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