By Therese Lewandowski

I have worked the election polling site for my precinct since 2020. It is a long day but a rather fun social time and a very rewarding experience. I get to see many neighbors. Best of all, I get to see parents and grandparents bring their kids in to see how we vote, young adults excited about voting for the first time, senior citizens proudly exercising the right and responsibility to vote. Everyone is grateful we are there and thank us as they leave. Sometimes kind observers bring us treats and coffee!

For this special primary election, your mail-in ballot needs to be posted no later than June 11. If you plan to mail it, get it post-marked. You can also drop it off at a local early absentee in-person voting site. That’s at the City Clerk’s offices in Homer, Kenai, Seldovia and Seward and at the Soldotna Prep School.

The state elections website at elections.alaska.org is packed with voter information like signing up to track your mail-in ballots, candidate lists and sample ballots. There is also information on ballot security and chain-of-custody. Check that out at www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/alaskasballotcountprocess.php.

Safeguards begin with Alaska Online Voter Registration System, which has firewall and intrusion prevention systems, data backups and corrupted data recovery. Elections officials are trained in cybersecurity.

Election Day you are required to show proof of voting eligibility and sign the precinct register. If you are not on the precinct register you will be instructed to do a question ballot, which is a form getting your name, address, etc. along with a ballot. Your ballot is counted in the machine and then retained for verification counts.

If you vote by mail, you can track your ballot at elections.alaska.gov. See the above website for what happens after the polls close. It is a very secure and guarded process.

Be an informed voter and remember all votes count and all voices matter.

— Therese Lewandowski for Kenai Peninsula Votes