Initial returns in Anchorage’s municipal elections show the Assembly’s majority will remain in place. Two incumbents on the Anchorage School Board are ahead of challengers. And most of this year’s bonds and tax levies are on track to pass, if early results hold.

The order mandates ballots to be received by Election Day and requires proof of citizenship for registering to vote in federal elections.

What surprised many close watchers of Anchorage elections this cycle, though, was not so much the results as it was the muted feel of the campaign season overall. Particularly given how expensive, contentious and energetic the last few years have been in city politics.

The defendants are non-citizens born in American Samoa, the charges say. Some told investigators they thought they were allowed to vote in local elections.

In a rare rebuke, Alaska's Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan voted Friday in favor of reversing cuts made by the Trump administration to Social Security services. The vote came as the Senate approved a budget plan late Friday night that will serve as a blueprint for further spending cuts and extending tax credits first enacted by President Donald Trump during his first term.

Four new faces are set to join the Anchorage Assembly according to initial election results Tuesday night. With 39,142 ballots counted, Yarrow Silvers, Erin Baldwin Day and Keith McCormick are the leading candidates to represent East, Midtown and South Anchorage respectively, while Jared Goecker is poised to represent Eagle River/Chugiak.

Glenn Wright, Ben Reilly and David Lublin have published this article in the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy. Here is the abstract: In recent years, ranked choice voting (RCV) has emerged as a leading electoral reform,