JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised repeatedly during his campaign to expand oil drilling in the U.S., which is good news for political leaders in Alaska, where oil is the economic lifeblood and many felt the Biden administration has obstructed efforts to boost the state’s diminished production.

Statewide, an estimated 30,000-35,000 absentee, questioned and early votes remain to be counted. Atqasuk was the last precinct to report results from Election Day itself. Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, said workers also added scanned ballots from the town of Coffman Cove, in Southeast Alaska.

Alaska elections officials added more than 8,500 ballots to the statewide count Wednesday afternoon, but the new ballots didn’t change the leaders of any races. More significantly, the Alaska Division of Elections reported almost 5,

Republican Nick Begich maintained his lead over incumbent U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. Ten days after the election, thousands of ballots remain to be counted.

Arthur Sammy Heckman Sr. has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of unlawful interference with an election after illegally canceling a local 2023 election and hiding the results of a 2022 election while serving as acting mayor of Pilot Station.

Voters in Alaska will head to the polls on Nov. 5, casting their ballot in the presidential race and the state's at-large congressional district.

Alaska voters were deciding a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat that could help decide control of that chamber.

Results timing: First results are expected around 1 a.m. Eastern time. Some absentee ballots will be counted late on election night, with subsequent counts taking place up to 15 days later. In federal and state races, any second ranked-choice tabulations would occur after 15 days.

See live updates of Alaska election results from the 2024 election, including Senate and House races, state elections and ballot initiatives.

While final results and tabulation are still a few weeks away, preliminary election results can tell us a lot about the future of ranked choice voting, the minimum wage, and the makeup of the 2025 legislature.

View live results of the Alaska presidential election. See maps of county-by-county presidential election results in the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.