As the Municipality of Anchorage presses forward with the massive modernization project at the Don Young Port of Alaska, city officials say that construction of the first cargo dock terminal will likely be delayed, and much of that work won’t start next summer as previously intended.

That’s because the city did not receive any bids from construction companies after undergoing a monthslong procurement process to select one.

“We anticipate a delay of one season on the actual dock construction. There are other portions of the project, things like the electrical systems — that work should be able to proceed on schedule,” said Jim Jager, the port’s spokesman.

The city is now retooling its bid proposal package in order to make it more attractive to potential bidders, Municipal Manager Becky Windt Pearson told the Anchorage Assembly last week.

Meanwhile, the Assembly is set to vote on a slate of measures related to the modernization project.

During a Wednesday meeting, Assembly members will consider whether to finalize the expanded construction design for cargo dock terminal two; whether to authorize $180 million to $250 million in proposed bonds, much of which would fund the next phase of work; and proposed tariff increases to pay for those bonds.

The port’s infrastructure is failing, threatening a critical piece of the state’s supply chain, and port officials have emphasized urgency in finishing at least one cargo terminal as quickly as possible.

Despite the contracting holdup, city officials say they’re working to keep the project moving during the next construction season.

“We don’t, in any way, expect that the project is paused,” Bill Falsey, chief administrative officer, said in an interview.

For example, the city is looking to construct an electrical substation next season, and other preparatory work for the cargo terminal could proceed, he said.

“Our intent is that we will reissue the request for proposals, get vendors and award a contract (so that) the construction seasons are used and that we are still making progress,” he said.

Without the capital improvements, the Port of Alaska “will be required to be shut down within ten years,” according to a memorandum for the bond proposal.

Officials have been giving the port a similar lifespan estimate for years, saying in 2017 that the docks only have about 10 years left.

The port handles about 75% of the state’s inbound cargo, including goods such as food, fuel, construction supplies, vehicles and tools. About 90% of Alaskans rely on goods that come through the port.

Estimates clock the total cost of the modernization project at somewhere between $1.8 billion and $2.2 billion.

No bid

In January, the city began a pre-qualifying process for potential bidders on a contract to construct cargo dock terminal one. It identified two: Manson Construction and Kiewit Corp., Windt Pearson said. But when the bidding window closed in September, no bids came in.

The administration is “working as quickly as possible to gather feedback, specifically from those two qualified bidders together, from our project management team and from our legal team, on how we might tweak the terms of the construction deal to make it enticing, to make sure that we have bidders this time, make sure we can get the project back out in the street as quickly as possible,” Windt Pearson said.

City officials say there are likely a lot of factors as to why no bids came in. They include several big risk considerations, such as extremely long “lead times” for acquiring expensive materials — costs that a contractor would have had to front until reimbursed by the city for its work.

“I think part of it is our project is really big and complicated and has lots of risks, everything from weather, short construction seasons, difficult logistics, challenging permitting, that it just made it a really sticky project for people,” Jager said.

Another issue is that federal money for big transportation and energy projects is flowing and competition for contractors is high, he said.

“It’s a contractor’s market right now because there are a lot of big projects out there,” Jager said.

[$663M Arctic port delayed, frustrating Nome officials and Alaska congressional delegation]

Windt Pearson last week told Assembly members that the proposed bond sale would likely help alleviate some concerns from construction companies. The about $180 million from bond sales will fund work and payments related to the port in 2025.

“One of the pieces of feedback we heard from the potential bidders on the contract was, ‘We feel a lack of certainty that you’re poised to be able to pay for this.’ And so that is a factor also here, in terms of the timing. It’s a ‘chicken or the egg’ kind of question,” Windt Pearson said.

Increases to the tariff schedule will be passed on to consumers. Those increases will be in place for many years until the bonds are paid off, Falsey said.

However, the financial impact on everyday consumers will likely be relatively small. For example, the tariff on a barrel of petroleum products would increase to 19 cents in 2026.

“You do potentially at the gas pump start to see an effect, but it is pretty minor,” Falsey said.

For cargo, the tariff would rise to $8.29 per ton, impacting the price of items from groceries to building materials, vehicles and heavy equipment.

Final terminal design

Wednesday’s vote is expected to put a cap on a nearly two-year-long debate over whether to move ahead with an expanded, more expensive design for the two cargo terminals.

An early design concept approved by the Anchorage Assembly in 2021 called for one wider cargo terminal to be built for using cargo cranes to move freight, and a second, narrower terminal for handling “roll on, roll off” freight — freight that rolls off ocean freighters directly onto the docks.

Assembly members on Wednesday are slated to vote on whether to approve an expanded design: Cargo terminal two would be built to the same 120-foot width as terminal one. That would allow both docks to accommodate 100-gauge cranes, though roll-on, roll-off cargo could only be handled at terminal two under the design.

Last summer, the Assembly approved a measure that paved the way for the expanded, uniform width design for both terminals, but punted the final decision on terminal two’s design.

The port’s Design Advisory Board unanimously approved the terminal two design in June, and Assembly members appear poised to pass the measure. However, some have raised concerns about lacking “roll-on, roll-off” capabilities at both planned cargo terminals.

“At one point, the port director said that what the (municipality) needed, absent any of the other users, was full redundancy. This redundancy and resiliency at the port. We needed the two mirrored docks. And so that’s where I think this question is coming from,” Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel said at the meeting last week.

Eric Adams, who oversees the port modernization as a project manager with Jacobs Engineering, advised that adding trestles for roll-on cargo to terminal one would delay construction due to additional permitting requirements, and it should wait until after both cargo terminals are built.

On Election Day, polling stations are scheduled to be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the first initial results should be posted online about 9:15 p.m., based on prior schedules.

In the state’s closest races, a winner won’t become apparent until Nov. 20, when the state tabulates the results of its ranked choice elections. 

The closest races likely will include the state’s U.S. House election and the ballot measure seeking to repeal ranked choice voting.  

Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, said by email that results updates will likely come on a similar schedule to 2022. That year, the first results were posted at 9:11 p.m. and were updated until shortly after 2 a.m. the following morning. Election Day results were again updated about 4 p.m. the following day.

Election Day results will include ballots cast on Election Day, plus early votes (those given at polling stations where voters present an ID) cast by the end of the day on Halloween. 

Some absentee votes (usually sent by mail and subject to later ID verification) will also be included, but we won’t know how many — that’s determined by how quickly the state review board operates.

If a mailed-in absentee ballot was postmarked on or before Election Day, state law allows it to be counted if it arrives on or before Nov. 15 (if mailed from within the United States) or Nov. 20 (if mailed internationally). Historically, most absentee ballots arrive within one week of Election Day.

As more absentee ballots arrive and are counted, the Division of Elections is scheduled to update election results on Nov. 12 and Nov. 15. 

Those updates will only include voters’ first choices. If a race has three or more candidates and none of them have at least 50% of the first-choice votes, the Division of Elections will use ranked choice voting to determine a winner.

On Nov. 20, the last-place finisher will be eliminated, and voters who picked that person will have their votes go to their second choice. If they don’t have a second choice, their ballot will be “exhausted” and not count for any of the remaining candidates.

The elimination process will continue until only two candidates remain, and the person with the greatest number of votes will be declared the winner.

The Division of Elections could offer an immediate ranked choice tabulation and update it as more ballots arrive, but when ranked choice voting was established by voters in 2020, the division’s then-director said that might be confusing for voters, and as a matter of policy, the division does only one tabulation.

U.S. House race result is likely to wait

That wait for tabulation could mean a wait for Alaska’s close-run U.S. House election, where Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola is being challenged by Republican Nick Begich, Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe and imprisoned, out-of-state Democratic candidate Eric Hafner.

In the August primary election, Peltola had more than 50% of the vote, but in the months since then, polling indicates that the race has tightened, with Begich’s odds helped by the fact that two trailing Republicans — including Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom — withdrew after the primary.

Howe and Hafner aren’t expected to receive many first choice votes, but if the margin between Peltola and Begich remains small, their supporters’ second-choice votes could be decisive once tabulation takes place.

Eight candidates in the presidential election

Alaska’s local elections have no more than four listed candidates, but the presidential election has eight, which makes it possible that an official winner won’t be declared until Nov. 20.

Republicans have won every presidential election in Alaska since 1964, and Republican candidate Donald Trump is the overwhelming favorite to win Alaska this year as well. 

With eight candidates in the race, it’s possible that Trump fails to exceed 50% of the first-choice votes, leaving the race to be decided until the ranked choice tabulation.

Ballot measures and judges could be decided early

Alaska’s two ballot measures aren’t subject to ranked choice tabulation — they’re a simple up or down vote, which means that we don’t have to wait until the Nov. 20 tabulation day.

Preelection polling presented to the Alaska Chamber of Commerce in October showed that Ballot Measure 1 — which would increase the state’s minimum wage, mandate sick leave and ban mandatory political and religious meetings — has a significant lead among voters. It’s expected to pass easily, and Election Day results will reveal whether that expectation holds true.

Ballot Measure 2 — which would repeal the state’s ranked choice general election and open primary election system — is too close to predict, polling indicates. Polling earlier in the summer found that “yes” to the repeal was ahead, but that’s changed, with “no” having a lead more recently. It’s still within the margin of error, however.

While it’s possible that Election Day results will give yes or no a definitive lead, it’s more likely that we won’t know for certain until about a week after Election Day, when more absentee ballots are counted.

Nineteen judges are also on the ballot statewide. Voters can choose to vote yes or no on whether to retain them. It’s extraordinarily unusual for voters to reject a judge, but there is a campaign to evict one of them, Adolf Zeman of Anchorage, for a legal decision on the state’s correspondence school program. No polling is available for that election, which is one to watch on Election Day.

Will polls operate correctly?

The Alaska Division of Elections has struggled this year with a variety of missteps, including the failure to open all polling stations on time during the primary election.

Two years ago, ballots from a handful of remote towns failed to reach Juneau after Election Day, meaning that they weren’t counted in the ranked choice tally. Only voters’ first choices were considered.

Ahead of the general election, there’s already been one significant problem: Absentee voters in three Southwest Alaska towns received the wrong ballots, and more than 90 had to revote as a result.

Will Election Day voters differ from advance voters?

Four years ago, 361,400 Alaskans voted in the 2020 presidential election. This year, Michael McDonald, a Florida-based political scientist and an expert in voter turnout, expects slightly lower turnout and about 355,000 votes cast.

Through Friday, 95,415 people had already cast ballots, representing more than a quarter of the expected total turnout. Early voting — done in person, with IDs verified on site — has set an all-time record.

Early and absentee voters combined have been disproportionately Republican. Altogether, more than 33% of advance votes through Nov. 1 came from registered Republicans. Statewide, Republicans make up just under 24% of registered voters. 

Registered Democrats have also been voting in unusually large numbers — they represent over 12% of registered voters but more than 17% of votes cast so far.

Election Day results will determine whether those figures represent a larger trend or not.

Conservative Republicans are likely to gain in the state Senate — but how much?

The Alaska Senate is governed by a 17-member supermajority coalition that includes nine Democrats and eight Republicans. 

One member of that coalition, Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, isn’t running for re-election, and his seat is likely to be taken by either Republican Mike Cronk or independent Savannah Fletcher. Alaskan Independence Party candidate Bert Williams is also running.

Cronk is inclined toward a Republican-led majority, rather than the current balanced coalition, while Fletcher favors the status quo. Cronk beat Fletcher by a small margin in the August primary.

In Eagle River, coalition Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick is being challenged by Republican Jared Goecker, who also prefers a Republican-first option in the Senate. If Goecker fails to reach 50% of first-choice votes, the second-choice votes of those who prefer Democratic candidate Lee Hammermeister — expected to finish third — could push Merrick over the top.

On the Kenai Peninsula, current coalition member Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, is being challenged by Republican Ben Carpenter, who also prefers a Republican-led majority. Bjorkman led Carpenter in the August primary. A Democrat is running as a third option, and Democratic voters who prefer Bjorkman as a second option could be decisive.

If they’re close, any or all of those three races could be decided on tabulation day. A fourth race could be decided on Election Day. Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, is being challenged by Republican Leslie Hajdukovich. Because there are only two candidates, ranked choice voting won’t be involved, unless write-in votes push the first-place finisher below 50%.

Control of the Alaska House could flip or solidify after Tuesday

The Alaska House currently has 22 Republicans, 13 Democrats and five independents. 

Thomas Baker, who changed his party affiliation to independent after the legislative session, is still listed as a Republican on the Legislature’s website.

Those legislators are split into a predominantly Republican coalition majority and a predominantly Democratic coalition minority. 

Because two Republicans aren’t a member of the majority, Republicans depend on the support of three non-Republicans from rural Alaska districts in order to maintain control.

If mainstream Republicans win contested elections on Tuesday, they could achieve unilateral control. If independents, Democrats and moderate Republicans win, it’s possible that the predominantly Democratic coalition will take back the majority it had for six years until 2022.

In Ketchikan, incumbent independent Rep. Dan Ortiz isn’t running for reelection and is likely to be replaced by Republican Jeremy Bynum, who had just short of 49% of the vote in the August primary election.

That Republican gain could be balanced on the North Slope, where Baker has faced a difficult reelection campaign against two Democrats running against him. Baker had just 29% of the vote in a three-way August primary election.

Republicans are trying to oust Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, with a more mainstream challenger, Republican Jubilee Underwood. Eastman has been excluded from the House majority, and if Underwood were to replace him, it would net a seat for the current majority.

Conversely, Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage and a member of the current majority, is facing a tough election against coalition-minded Republican Chuck Kopp, a former legislator seeking a return to the House. Kopp beat Johnson by more than 20 percentage points in the August primary, and the two are repeating that race on Tuesday.

Several other races are effectively head-to-head tossups entering Tuesday. In Fairbanks, Democratic Rep. Maxine Dibert is being challenged by Republican Bart LeBon, a former representative whom Dibert defeated two years ago by a small margin. 

In Anchorage, Democrat Ted Eischeid beat incumbent Republican Rep. Stanley Wright by 35 votes out of more than 1,200 cast in the August primary after losing to Wright by 72 votes of 3,772 cast in 2022; they’re rerunning their race on Tuesday.

Also in Anchorage, Republican Rep. Julie Coulombe beat independent challenger Walter Featherly by just 121 votes out of more than 3,200 cast in the August primary, and both have been campaigning hard ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

In South Anchorage, independent Ky Holland won a four-way August primary, but Republicans have now consolidated around Republican candidate Lucy Bauer, setting up a head-to-head race to replace incumbent Republican Rep. Laddie Shaw, who is not seeking reelection.

Other potentially close races include more than two candidates and could require ranked choice tabulation to resolve:

• House District 6 in Homer, where Republican Rep. Sarah Vance is being challenged by independent Brent Johnson and Republican Dawson Slaughter
• Anchorage’s House District 15, where Republican Mia Costello is seeking to return to the state House to fill a seat vacated by Republican Rep. Tom McKay. Democrat Denny Wells is challenging her but could have his odds spoiled by perennial candidate Dustin Darden, who is running as a Democrat.
• Republican Rebecca Schwanke is likely the favorite to replace Cronk in Interior Alaska’s House District 36, but she faces three opponents — Democrat Brandon Kowalski, fellow Republican Pam Goode, and Libertarian James Fields, who has suspended his campaign.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska Division of Elections leaders said steps have been taken to ensure polling locations are open and staffed on Tuesday after rural voters — primarily with Alaska Native populations — dealt with primary election polling locations not being opened and late absentee ballot arrivals.

“We are optimistic that all precincts will be open and ready to go. We are sending several people to Egegik and may have to send some to Shungnak. Otherwise, so far we have all R4 precincts covered,” division Director Carol Beecher said.

Beecher specifically referred to Region 4, which includes Northern, Western and Southwest Alaska, Aleutian Chain, Tyonek, Port Graham, and Nanwalek.

The Divisions of Elections update follows concerns that Rep. Mary Peltola raised at a primary watch party back in August that some Alaska communities did not have open polling stations.

The next day, Beecher responded by saying staffing issued at two locations — Wales and Kaktovik — meant polls had not opened. Anaktuvuk Pass was also not open for most of the day.

The mayor of Anaktuvuk Pass — with assistance from the division — was able to provide ballots and a register, so the polling place was open for about 45 minutes.

However, problems persisted before the primary election, with Beecher confirming 20 rural communities received absentee ballots after early voting started Aug. 5.

Beecher said the late ballots resulted from a logistics issue associated with absentee voter offices, or AVOs.

“That window of time between getting the ballots printed and getting them sent is tight for the AVOs,” Beecher said. “It’s particularly tight in our rural areas like Nome. And so because of that, there was a challenge with the mail, et cetera, getting them to those locations on time.

“Most of them had them on time, but there were a few that didn’t get them for the Monday opening,” Beecher said back in August.

Reaching out to rural communities on Monday, Bethel and Dillingham election staff told Alaska’s News Source they were now experiencing few issues leading up to the general election.

Dillingham city staff said they had seen record-level early voting in anticipation of a winter storm on Election Day.

Get Out The Native Vote Director Michelle Sparck said her group is working hard to make sure that everything works smoothly on election day, but anticipates there could still be issues.

“It could be Mother Nature. Again, it could be human error — we don’t know yet. Right now, we’re trying to make sure that Nuiqsut has their ballots because we were told that only one election bag made it there as far as Saturday, so I’m hoping that it came in at least by [Monday],” Sparck said. “The division can’t give us a list of election workers signed up in every precinct because they are temporary state workers, so we can’t crosscheck it and say, you know, we know that they’re there and we know that they’re prepared, and we can’t harass election workers.

“Obviously, that’s not our intent either, but we just want to make sure that there’s a system in place eventually where we all have a really good comfort level with the all-volunteer election workforce, and that our post offices are operational, and that the air carriers can travel on days like this.”

Additionally, the Department of Justice will be monitoring compliance with federal voting rights laws in five Alaskan boroughs and census areas during Tuesday’s election.

Out of a total of 86 jurisdictions in 27 states nationwide, the Alaska jurisdictions to be monitored — from north to south — include the North Slope Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough, the Kusilvak Census Area, the Bethel Census Area, and the Dillingham Census Area.

The effort is part of the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all federal statutes that protect the right to vote as well as federal statutes prohibiting discriminatory interference with that right.

Sparck said she is glad to see that kind of attention.

“Because section five of the Voting Rights Act is so important and integral to us having language accessibility on election day, and they do publish pamphlets — the election guides — with the languages that are covered under the Act … but there are issues,“ Sparck said. ”Not every poll worker is bilingual out in the villages. We have been trying to encourage more bilingual workers to apply to be outreach agents for the Division of Elections.”

In the end, Sparck said she is hoping for a high turnout, but she remains worried historical voting issues have created apathy in the rural, Native communities.

“People start to think, ‘What does it matter? Why should I waste my time? Why should I go stand in line for two hours if it‘s not even going to mean anything?’“ Sparck said. ”We’ve gotta realize our power.”

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