Govind Tekale
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Early voting for Alaska’s 2026 general election opened on October 19. If you plan to vote before Election Day on November 3, the information you need—your nearest location and its operating hours—is not the same statewide. Sites and times vary by community, and checking the official locator is the authoritative online source before you leave.
Alaska’s Division of Elections opened early voting on October 19, 2026, ahead of the November 3 general election. Early voting runs through November 3. Locations and hours differ across communities statewide. The Division of Elections’ early-voting locator at [elections.alaska.gov/avo](https://www.elections.alaska.gov/avo/) lists current sites and times for each area; the Division publishes and updates the locator directly. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting for its general elections; voters may rank candidates in order of preference. Note: Alaska’s Ballot Measure 2 on this same ballot would repeal the ranked-choice system if passed; a similar measure failed in 2024 by fewer than 800 votes.
Alaska voters deciding whether to vote early need a verified location and operating hours, not a general announcement. Early voting began October 19 and runs through November 3, but sites and hours vary by community. Checking the Division of Elections locator before leaving can prevent a wasted trip and helps voters make a ballot decision before November 3, which uses Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.
How to Use the Official Locator
The early-voting locator at elections.alaska.gov/avo is the source of record for current sites, hours, and any location updates. Media reports and third-party aggregators may not reflect site-level schedule changes; the official locator is updated by the Division of Elections directly. Some communities, including several rural villages, have no designated early-voting site—schedules vary; check the locator for your specific community before making a trip.
**When does early voting end in Alaska?** Early voting generally runs through November 3, 2026—Election Day itself. However, individual site hours vary. Use the Alaska Division of Elections locator at elections.alaska.gov/avo to confirm your location’s specific schedule.
Alaska’s 2026 general election includes U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and governor’s races, along with state legislative contests and two statewide ballot measures. The ranked-choice voting system, which Alaska voters approved in 2020 and first used in 2022, asks voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and votes are redistributed according to each ballot’s next-ranked continuing candidate, repeating until a candidate wins a majority in that contest. Ballot Measure 2 would repeal this system; voters approved a similar measure’s defeat in 2024 by fewer than 800 votes.
Election Day is November 3. Visit [elections.alaska.gov/election-information](https://www.elections.alaska.gov/election-information/) for details on absentee voting, registration deadlines, and identification requirements.
