It’s election season in Anchorage. The annual Anchorage municipal elections will start with candidates filing for office at the end of this week and the season will finish up on April 4, the last day that voters can choose between the candidates who appear on ballots in their mailboxes.
Anchorage votes with mail-in or drop-off ballots primarily, with no usual precinct voting available to residents during the local elections, which are run by the municipal clerk, who reports to the Assembly, which dictated vote-at-home through an ordinance in 2017. Cost of elections have more than doubled since the Assembly passed the ordinance.
Ballots are mailed to qualified voters about 21 days before the April 4 end of the voting period, which means on March 14 ballots will be in the mail.
Filing for the open Assembly, School Board, and service area seats takes place in a short window from Jan. 13-17 at the Clerk’s Office. Propositions that will appear on the ballot will be posted in mid-February. To be eligible to vote in this election, you must be registered with the state Division of Elections no later than 30 days before Election Day, with an Anchorage address.
A candidate for municipal office must be:
- a resident of the Municipality of Anchorage, and
- a qualified voter of the Municipality of Anchorage and the State of Alaska,
- among other specific qualifications.
Municipal and state requirements for filing for Municipal office are detailed below:
- Candidates for Anchorage Assembly seats – Filing Packet at this link
- Candidates for Anchorage School Board seats – Filing Packet at this link
- Candidates for Service Area Board of Supervisors, including LRSA seats – Filing Packet at this link
Seats that will be on the April 4 ballot include:
Anchorage Assembly Candidates
- District 1 – Seat B – North Anchorage. This is the seat currently held by Chris Constant.
- District 2 – Seat C – Chugiak, Eagle River, JBER. This is the seat currently held by outgoing member Jamie Allard. The Assembly will appoint a temporary member to fill the vacancy until April 25.
- District 3 – Seat E – West Anchorage. This is the seat currently held by Austin Quinn-Davidson, who has said she will retire.
- District 4 – Seat G – Midtown Anchorage. This is the seat held by Felix Rivera.
- District 5 – Seat H – East Anchorage (2-Year Term). This is the seat formerly held by Forrest Dunbar, now temporarily held by Joey Sweet.
- District 5 – Seat I – East Anchorage. This is the seat held by Pete Petersen, who is term-limited and cannot run.
- District 6 – Seat K – South Anchorage, Girdwood, Turnagain Arm. This is the seat held by Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance.
Anchorage School Board Candidates
- School Board – Seat C. This is the seat held by Dave Donley.
- School Board – Seat D. This is the seat held by Andy Holleman.
Service Area Board of Supervisors
- Bear Valley LRSA – Seat A
- Birch Tree/Elmore LRSA – Seat A
- Birch Tree/Elmore LRSA – Seat D
- Birch Tree/Elmore LRSA – Seat E
- Chugiak Fire Service Area – Seat A
- Girdwood Valley Service Area – Seat D
- Girdwood Valley Service Area – Seat E
- Glen Alps Service Area – Seat A
- Glen Alps Service Area – Seat B
- Homestead LRSA – Seat A
- Lakehill LRSA – Seat C
- Mt. Park Estates LRSA – Seat B
- Mt. Park/Robin Hill RRSA – Seat C
- Mt. Park/Robin Hill RRSA – Seat D
- Paradise Valley South LRSA – Seat B
- Rabbit Creek View/Heights LRSA – Seat B
- Raven Woods/Bubbling Brook LRSA – Seat B
- Rockhill LRSA – Seat B
- Section 6/Campbell Airstrip Road LRSA – Seat A
- Sequoia Estates LRSA – Seat A
- Sequoia Estates LRSA – Seat B
- Skyranch Estates LRSA – Seat B
- South Goldenview RRSA – Seat A
- SRW Homeowner’s LRSA – Seat C
- Talus West LRSA – Seat A
- Totem LRSA – Seat B
- Upper Grover LRSA – Seat B
- Upper O’Malley LRSA – Seat A
- Valli Vue Estates LRSA – Seat B
- Valli Vue Estates LRSA – Seat E
- Villages Scenic Parkway LRSA – Seat A
The ballots will be pre filled out (for Democrats) for your convenience.
School Board “elections”, what a bad joke…
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More interesting will be the third ballot attempt to expand parks and recreation. Everyone’s dream is an even larger parks and rec with an unlimited budget for gobbling up private property and forcing public trails on productive residents who don’t want public trails, no?
Mail in voting = Leftist cheating. The World knows.
The same rules and protocol should be in place for all elections in the state. This is too important of a basic right to be in trusted to local discretion, especially by an individual appointed by one branch of the local government. There’s no checks and balances in this type system. If not mistaken, the Lt Gov. is responsible for the integrity of all elections taking place in the state. That was created because he/she is an elected official. And answers to the elected Governor. Getting tired of living in a suburb of Seattle. And by the way, that’s where our ballots are printed and distributed from, in numbers not released by the assembly.
Quit quietly complaining about Assembly and School Board composition! Peacefully educate yourself and others and advocate the quiet conservatives to actively vote for a healthy change.
I think I will run against Suzanne Lafrance and:
Repeal the 10 cent a gallon gas tax they snuck in.
Privatize road maintenance where we can. They have better maintenance on the hillside with lower cost using private contractors.
Close schools not needed because of decreased enrollment. Sell the buildings or move administrators there and close the old boniface mall.
Cut school administration spending and increase teacher pay so teachers make as much as administrators.
Put back all the right hand turn lanes that were removed in the name of traffic calming. We need traffic moving not calming.
Add positions to all permitting offices and simplify new construction permits. The only multi family housing built in the last 10 years were by “non profits”. No one else can afford to build with all the restrictions.
Sell municipal owned properties and forgive taxes for the first 3 years for any new business built.
Work with downtown business to add parking.
Enforce panhandling laws.
Help the homeless
Do what we can to invite new business to move here.
If I don’t run, I hope someone will that agrees with me. But probably won’t get elected because the government sector is stronger than the independent business sector.
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