Opinion ID: 1169818
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Rejection of Richard Snyder's Vote

Text: An absentee ballot will not be counted if the ballot is not postmarked on or before the date of election. AS 15.20.203; AS 15.20.081(e). It is undisputed that Snyder's absentee ballot was postmarked on August 29, 1996, two days after the primary election, and was witnessed one day after the election. Cissna maintains that Snyder's vote should be counted nonetheless, because his failure to submit a timely ballot was the fault of election officials. She relies on Fischer for the proposition that when a voting error is made entirely by election officials, the vote will be counted, even if it does not meet required statutory procedures. Fischer does not address the situation presented in this case. In Fischer the issue was whether a questioned ballot should be counted in the election results; there is no indication in Fischer that the voter cast the questioned ballot at any time after the election deadline. See Fischer, 741 P.2d at 217-18. It is not contested that Snyder made a good faith effort to vote. Election officials may have misplaced his first application. Upon receipt of his second ballot application, election officials sent Snyder a ballot by first class mail on August 23, 1996, creating a risk that Snyder would not receive the ballot by August 27. Nonetheless, timely receipt was possible and did occur in other cases involving comparable distances. [15] Even assuming that election officials were negligent and were at fault for Snyder's late receipt of the ballot, Snyder's ballot was properly rejected as untimely. Public policy requires that votes cast after polls close not be counted. [16] Knowledge of even unofficial election results may affect a person's vote. This is particularly true in a case such as this where a candidate's loss by one vote is highly publicized. To allow otherwise could erode the integrity of the entire voting process. [17]