Control of the US Senate could hang in limbo for weeks as America’s election fate may come down to a slow-motion vote count across Alaska’s frozen tundra.
There are 600,000 voters scattered across a vast expanse of 586,000 square miles, and Alaska’s unusual ballot-counting rules and a legal fight over the contest could delay the result for days or even weeks.
The state’s Senate race between Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola could prove pivotal in determining which party controls the chamber.
“We will [not] know who is going to win Alaska [until] two weeks after Election Day,” predicted pollster Sean Trende, a polling analyst at RealClearPolitics and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, which organized an Election Watch briefing Oct. 20.
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Alaska relies on small planes like this one to connect rural communities, and even deliver ballots. The state has a tight Senate race and allows more than a week for overseas absentee ballots — plus ranked choice voting. All could stall the vote count. Getty Images
“It will be a toss-up until the last ballots come in from the Alaskan bush by two-prop engine, and then put it through like five rounds of ranked-cho...