Alaska’s
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Alaska Division of Elections procedures for counting Write-in Ballots
Sec. 15.15.360. Rules for counting ballots.
(a) The election board shall count ballots according to the following rules:
(1) A voter may mark a ballot only by filling in, making “X” marks, diagonal, horizontal, or vertical marks, solid marks, stars, circles, asterisks, checks, or plus signs that are clearly spaced in the oval opposite the name of the candidate, proposition, or question that the voter desires to designate.
(2) A failure to properly mark a ballot as to one or more candidates does not itself invalidate the entire ballot.
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.(5) The mark specified in (1) of this subsection shall be counted only if it is substantially inside the oval provided, or touching the oval so as to indicate clearly that the voter intended the particular oval to be designated.
(6) Improper marks on the ballot may not be counted and do not invalidate marks for candidates properly made.
(7) An erasure or correction invalidates only that section of the ballot in which it appears.
.(9) Write-in votes are not invalidated by writing in the name of a candidate whose name is printed on the ballot unless the election board determines, on the basis of other evidence, that the ballot was so marked for the purpose of identifying the ballot.
(10) In order to vote for a write-in candidate, the voter must write in the candidate’s name in the space provided and fill in the oval opposite the candidate’s name in accordance with (1) of this subsection.
(11) A vote for a write-in candidate, other than a write-in vote for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided.
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(b) The rules set out in this section are mandatory and there are no exceptions to them. A ballot may not be counted unless marked in compliance with these rules.
Sec. 15.15.361. Stickers
Affixing stickers on a ballot in an election to vote for a write-in candidate is prohibited.
From:
6. Incomplete voter signature
One voter made a hand written mark which appears to be the beginning of a “K” in the voter signature blank of the voter oath on the back of the absentee ballot. A qualified attesting official witness attested that the oath was subscribed and sworn to before the witness. Judge Katz ruled that this was not a signature as required by AS 15.20.081(d). She thus accepted the challenge made by Finkelstein. We disagree. The mark could be legally sufficient to serve as the voter’s signature if that was the voter’s intent. Fischer v. Stout, 741 P.2d at 225. Since the voter oath was properly attested as subscribed and sworn to, it is the view of a majority of the court that it has not been shown that the mark was not intended by the voter to serve as his signature.
