Alaska GOP pushes mail-in ballots despite Trump’s criticism of the practice

The Alaska Republican Party, which has mailed absentee ballot applications to voters since 1994, kept the practice alive for the 2026 primary despite Donald Trump’s recent remarks labeling mail voting as cheating. A voter mailer distributed last month featured a partially completed absentee ballot request and a call to “advance Republicans to the general election ballot.” According to the Alaska Division of Elections, 9,981 absentee ballot requests were filed through July 31, with Republicans making up 28.5% of those requests, outpacing their 23.6% share of the state’s 602,131 registered voters.

Democrats also sent out request forms, and their supporters comprised 19.7% of absentee requests, higher than their 11.6% share of registered voters. Unaffiliated voters, who represent nearly half of all registrants, accounted for a smaller proportion of absentee requests. The deadline to receive a paper absentee ballot is Aug. 8, while electronic requests must be made by Aug. 17; all ballots must be postmarked or faxed by the Aug. 18 primary.