Peltola leads Sullivan by 626 votes with nearly all Alaska precincts counted

Mary Peltola led U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan by 626 votes early Wednesday, with nearly all of Alaska's precincts reporting in the preliminary count.

The Alaska Division of Elections' 2:19 a.m. report included results from 394 of 401 precincts and 215,341 voters, 35.57% of the state's 605,433 registered voters. The results are unofficial. The precinct count does not reflect the share of all ballots that will eventually be tallied.

In the U.S. Senate race, Peltola had 102,701 first-choice votes, or 48.02%, to Sullivan's 102,075, or 47.73%. Republican Gerald Heikes had 4,821 votes. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., an unaffiliated candidate who shares the incumbent's name, had 3,583.

The race split sharply by voting method. Sullivan led the Election Day vote 78,089 to 69,732, according to the division's precinct file. Peltola led the early vote 28,192 to 20,566 and the absentee vote counted so far 4,777 to 3,420.

If no candidate wins a majority once all eligible ballots are counted, the division plans to run its ranked-choice tabulation Nov. 18. That count eliminates the last-place candidate one round at a time, according to the division's results page.

Republican incumbent Nick Begich led the U.S. House race with 105,353 votes, or 49.51%. Nonpartisan candidate Bill Hill had 85,838 votes, or 40.34%. Democrat Eric Hafner had 15,501 votes, or 7.28%, and Libertarian Jim McDermott had 5,763 votes, or 2.71%.

Begich led the Election Day vote 80,727 to Hill's 57,048, while Hill led the early vote 24,970 to 21,075, according to the precinct file. Begich remained just short of a first-choice majority, so ranked-choice tabulation remains possible.

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and running mate Zac Johnson led the governor's race with 103,610 votes, or 49.01%, with 393 of 400 precincts reporting in that race. Bernadette Wilson and Mike Shower had 61,566 votes, or 29.12%. Dave Bronson and Josh Church had 29,900 votes, or 14.14%, and Treg Taylor and Candice English had 15,713 votes, or 7.43%.

Kreiss-Tomkins was about one percentage point short of a first-choice majority. The three Republican tickets together had 50.69% of the vote, but in a ranked-choice tabulation, voters' later rankings, not party labels, determine where ballots move.

Ballot Measure 2 trailed, with "no" at 105,774 votes, or 51.85%, and "yes" at 98,218 votes, or 48.15%, a margin of 7,556 votes.

A yes vote would restore party primaries and single-choice general elections, ending Alaska's open-primary, ranked-choice system. Under the measure's official language, it would also repeal campaign-finance provisions added by the 2020 initiative, including certain disclosure rules governing digital advertising, out-of-state money, undisclosed donations and the true sources of donations. A no vote keeps the current system and those provisions in place.

Yes led the Election Day vote 75,002 to 72,962, while no led the early vote 28,015 to 19,917, the precinct file shows.

Ballot Measure 3, which would add the word "only" to the state law on who may vote so that it says only U.S. citizens may vote, led with 142,616 "yes" votes, or 69.64%, to 62,175 "no" votes, or 30.36%.

The division continues counting eligible absentee, early and questioned ballots after Election Day. Questioned ballots come from voters who are not on the register, need to update information or lack ID. Under the division's election calendar, domestic absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through Nov. 13, and overseas ballots through Nov. 18. Ranked-choice tabulation, if needed, is scheduled after the final count that day, and the state is targeting Nov. 25 for certification.

This article will be updated as the state posts additional results.