Almost 49,000 voters made their way to 297 polling places in the territory of Alaska on August 26th,1958.

The voters cast their votes for a proposition in a six-to-one margin in the special election to approve statehood for the territory.

The turnout was so tremendous that in many of the polling places, the ballot supply ran out and  sample ballots had to be used to cast votes.

With the vote that day, Alaska became the first state to be accepted into the Union in 47 years.

  1958, 26th, Alaska, august, election, history, polls, special, statehood, territory