Anchorage Pioneers Phone Voting in Historic Municipal Election

In a move that feels both inevitable and futuristic, Anchorage, Alaska is preparing to become the first major U.S. city to allow all voters to cast ballots from their smartphones. As of November 13, 2025, the city of about 240,000 registered voters is starting small, with mail and in-person voting still available, but voters will also be able to open a link on their phones to cast a ballot in municipal races.

The cautious technological step forward is designed to help offset Alaska's unique challenges, including harsh weather, long drives to vote in rural areas, a transient population, and a large nearby military base. Local election officials hope the phone experiment will make it easier to vote while also keeping elections secure.

While internet voting has been used sporadically around the world, Anchorage's trial run could offer a blueprint for expanded mobile voting in future elections beyond Alaska. However, the move comes at a time of shaken trust in elections, with some experts warning that the political environment is too volatile for such experiments. Nonetheless, the city's election administrator is optimistic, noting they've already received "a lot of selfies of people on vacation" thanking them for the new voting option.