US Midterm Poll Results: Why Alaska may have to wait over a week for winners; two major factors behind the delay explained

The US midterm election result unfolded on November 3, 2026 (Tuesday), in major states across America. The elections saw Democrats sweep to sizable majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The election across the major part of the country was declared fairly quickly in the majority of states. But, in Alaska, people are expected to wait weeks to receive final results. There are multiple plausible reasons behind the delay.

Two major reasons are its geographical location and the ranked choice voting. Besides being the biggest state, spreading across 665,384 square miles, it is also the most remote.

How is Alaska’s geography a challenge?

Alaska is apparently double the size of Texas. It has approximately 600,000 registered voters. The majority of the sprawling area of the state is only accessible by plane or boat.

Unlike other states, where mail-in ballots mostly arrive by the time elections come to an end on Election Day, Alaska gives a time period between 10 and 15 days for mailed ballots to be returned to the elections office. It is pertinent to note that the grace period is 10 days if mailed within the country and 15 days from overseas.

What is the ranked choice voting system?

Besides the geographical challenges, the other factor that separates Alaska from other US states is the use of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) to count votes. Since the grace period is 15 days, the results won’t be finalized until after that period if no candidate receives 50% of the vote on the first ballot.

Alaska is one of the two states, along with Maine, that use ranked choice voting to regularly choose congressional representatives. Hawaii has also implemented this system, but it's for special federal and county elections, online platform Vote Beat reported, citing MIT lab.

Alaska law states that all general elections will be conducted by Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). This method allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. Only the top four candidates who receive the greatest number of votes in the open primary advance to appear on the general election ballot (or the next higher finisher if a candidate withdraws).

A candidate is required to secure a majority (50% + 1) of total votes cast to win. If no candidate receives a majority of 1st choice votes in the first round of counting, more rounds of counting continue until a candidate reaches a majority. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to the voter’s next ranked choices. The process continues until a candidate archives an outright majority.