Alaska midterm election results: Is Nick Begich III winning? When will final results be declared?

Counting in Alaska's midterm election for the US House of Representatives is still underway. Republican incumbent Nick Begich III is leading the race by a significant margin, according to the latest vote count. Begich had secured 103,528 votes at the time of writing, accounting for nearly 50% of the votes counted so far. Independent candidate Bill Hill was in second place with 83,091 votes, or approximately 40% of the total. Democratic candidate Eric Hafner was trailing with 14,955 votes, representing 7.2% of the votes.

According to NBC, Hill would need to win 57.9% of the remaining votes to catch up with or overtake Begich, who currently leads the race. "We just had a really good ballot drop here just a minute ago, and we are cautiously optimistic," Begich told supporters after the second wave of statewide results, as reported by Alaska Public Media.

Hill, a commercial fisherman and retired educator, also expressed optimism about his chances. "Like all Alaskans, I'm optimistic," he said. "I'm a commercial fisherman. You know, we're always going to do better next year."


Under Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, Begich will win the race outright if he secures more than 50% of first-choice votes. If no candidate crosses that threshold, the election will proceed to ranked-choice tabulation on November 18, according to Alaska Public Media.

When will Alaska House election results be declared?

Alaska is among the last US states to complete its vote count, meaning its election results can take longer to emerge than those in eastern states. The state has a history of delayed election results. For instance, it took roughly two weeks to determine the winners of Alaska's US Senate races in 2008 and 2010, according to Alaska Public Media.

The delays are partly due to the state's vast geography and logistical challenges. Alaska's election rules also allow overseas absentee ballots to arrive up to 15 days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked by November 3. The counting process also varies across the state. While most areas use machines to tabulate ballots, election workers in 131 of Alaska's more than 400 precincts count votes by hand before reporting the results by phone to regional offices, Alaska Public Media reported.

The Alaska Division of Elections is scheduled to publish the first batch of results online between 8:45 pm and 9 pm Alaska time on Election Day. Officials have also scheduled further updates seven, 10 and 15 days after Election Day, although additional updates may be released outside this schedule.

The November 10 update is expected to include almost all early votes and a substantial batch of absentee ballots, particularly from communities outside the state's road system. By November 13, nearly all ballots are expected to have been counted. The remaining votes will be included in the final scheduled unofficial update on November 18, reported Alaska Public.

How will ranked-choice voting affect the Alaska election results?

Ranked-choice voting are expected to play a decisive role in Alaska's gubernatorial. Under the system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins an outright majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and those ballots are redistributed according to voters' next preferences. The process continues until a candidate secures a majority.

However, the Division of Elections will not conduct the official ranked-choice tabulation until November 18.

Election officials plan to release raw data that could provide an indication of how voters ranked candidates. The data will accompany the scheduled updates, beginning with the final batch of Election Night results, Division of Elections spokesperson Steve Kirch said Monday.

Further ranked-choice voting data is scheduled for release on November 10, November 13 and November 18. The information will require specialised software to interpret.

The Division of Elections has not explained why it will release raw data instead of conducting preliminary ranked-choice tabulations alongside the scheduled vote-count updates.

Election officials plan to certify the results by November 25. Any recount requests must be submitted within five days of certification.