It’s election day, Kenai Peninsula Borough residents!

Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16, when Alaskans will vote in both the state’s special general and regular primary elections. Per the Alaska Division of Elections, unofficial election results will be posted on the division website after 9 p.m. on election day. Sept. 2 is the target date for the State Review Board to certify the election.

Voters will be given a two-sided ballot when they arrive at their polling place Tuesday.

On one side of the ballot, Alaskans will vote in the state’s regular primary election. For each race, voters will vote for one candidate. This year’s primary races include those for U.S. senator, U.S. representative and governor and lieutenant governor, as well as for seats in the Alaska Legislature.

Candidates running for the U.S. House on the regular primary side of the ballot are running for the next two-year term of Alaska’s at-large seat in the U.S. House. That term is different from the one that ends in 2023 and that Don Young was to finish out.

On one side of the Aug. 16 ballot, voters will rank candidates vying to fill the remainder of the late Don Young’s term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Candidates will rank candidates Nick Begich III, Sarah Palin and Mary Peltola on that side of the ballot using Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system.

The ranked choice ballot shows a grid of bubbles, with one row for each candidate and one column for preference order. Voters fill in the bubble in the “1st Choice” column that corresponds to their first-choice candidate. Voters then move to the second column and fill in the bubble that corresponds to their second-choice candidate, and so on. Voters can rank up to four candidates, or just rank one, two or three candidates.

If a candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, that candidate would be declared the winner of the election.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, the candidate who received the least number of first-choice votes is eliminated. Then, the voters who ranked the eliminated candidate as their first choice would have their second-choice candidate votes distributed to the remaining candidates. The process will continue until one candidate emerges with more than 50% of the votes.

All Alaska voters were mailed new voter registration cards for the Aug. 16 election. Alaska’s legislative district boundaries were redrawn using updated population data collected during the 2020 U.S. Census.

Former State Senate District O is now State Senate District D. District D includes the Kenai/Soldotna area and covers the northern half of the Kenai Peninsula with borders extended to above Tustumena Lake. That district is currently represented by Peter Micciche, who has said he will not run for reelection. Jesse Bjorkman and Tuckerman Babcock are both running for the seat.

Former State House District 30 is now State House District 7 and includes most of Kenai, Soldotna and Kalifornsky. That seat is currently held by Ron Gillham, who is running for reelection against Soldotna City Council member Justin Ruffridge.

Former State House District 29 is now State House District 8 and includes the Kenai Peninsula north of Tustumena Lake and east of Kasilof. It includes Bear Creek, but not Seward, which is in State House District 5 and State Senate District C. That district is currently represented by Ben Carpenter, who is running unopposed for reelection.

More information about the Aug. 16 election can be found on the Division of Alaska’s website at elections.alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.

Precinct number	Precinct name	Polling place name	Polling place address	City
07-005	Central	Soldotna Sports Center	538 Arena Ave	Soldotna
07-010	K Beach	Soldotna Sports Center	538 Arena Ave	Soldotna
07-015	Kenai No. 1	Kenai Mall	11312 Kenai Spur Hwy	Kenai
07-020	Kenai No. 2	Challenger Learning Center	9711 Kenai Spur Hwy	Kenai
07-025	Kenai No. 3	Kenai Mall	11312 Kenai Spur Hwy	Kenai
07-030	Soldotna	Soldotna Public Library	235 N Binkley St	Soldotna
08-035	Bear Creek	Bear Creek Fire Hall	13105 Seward Hwy	Seward
08-040	Cooper Landing	Cooper Landing Community Hall	Bean Creek Rd	Cooper Landing
08-045	Funny River No. 1	Funny River Community Center	35850 Pioneer Access	Soldotna
08-050	Funny River No. 2	Soldotna Prep School	426 W Redoubt Ave	Soldotna
08-055	Hope	Hope Retreat Center	A Ave	Hope
08-060	Mackey Lake	Soldotna Prep School	426 W Redoubt Ave	Soldotna
08-065	Moose Pass	Moose Pass Community Hall	Mi 29.5 Seward Hwy	Moose Pass
08-070	Nikiski	Nikiski Community Rec Center	50097 Kenai Spur Hwy	Nikiski
08-075	Salamatof	Nikiski Community Rec Center	50097 Kenai Spur Hwy	Nikiski
08-080	Sterling No. 1	Sterling Community Center	38377 Swanson River Rd	Sterling
08-085	Sterling No. 2	Sterling Community Center	38377 Swanson River Rd	Sterling

Campaign signs decorate the outside of Paradisos Restaurant on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)