US President Donald Trump won the Alaska state election on Wednesday and the Republican Party also retained the Senate seat, giving the party 50 seats in the 100-member US Senate.
“President Trump and Senate Republicans win Alaska overwhelmingly by a massive 20 points difference!” Ivanka Trump, Trump’s daughter and presidential adviser, said in a tweet.
When elections were called in Alaska, Trump had received 56.9 percent of the total votes counted and President-elect Joe Biden obtained 39.1 percent. After winning Alaska, Trump’s electoral college vote count increased to 217. Biden was already declared the winner with 279 of 538 electoral college votes, but Trump has refused to budge and has filed lawsuits in several states, challenging the electoral results.
What is the vote counting process in Alaska?
The counting process has always been slow in Alaska due to the extensive geography of the state. Officials count absentee ballots that arrive within 10 days of Election Day, provided they are postmarked by then. If the ballots are from outside the US, they are given 15 days to arrive as long as they are postmarked. Once a correctly postmarked ballot arrives, the state checks to make sure it is not a duplicate; Because of this, Alaska does not begin counting mail-in ballots until long after Election Day. A similar process is used in Pennsylvania as well.
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What about Senate and House races in Alaska?
Not only has President Trump won Alaska’s three electoral votes, but the competitive race in the Senate and House of Representatives has also been won by the Republican Party. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan won against Al Gross, an independent who was backed by state and national Democrats. Much was made of the race, as videos of mining executives and a dispute over whether Gross had actually killed a bear were leaked. In the race for the house, Republican Party Don Young, the longest-serving member of Congress, who has represented the state since 1973, won against Democrat-backed independent Alyse Galvin.
What are the other states that are still being counted?
North Carolina and Nevada are still counting the votes. Georgia will recount all hand-cast paper ballots, a mammoth task that could be completed by November 20.
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