Turnout might be light for the fall municipal election in the City of Kenai, which has three seats up for election on the Oct. 1 ballot.
As with four seats in Juneau’s City and Borough Assembly elections, Kenai’s slate is filled with incumbents who are unopposed:
Jim Glendening, a retired oilfield operator, is seeking his second term on the City Council.
Glenese Pettey, a financial adviser, is also seeking a second term on the City Council
Mayor Brian Gabriel, a road foreman for the Alaska Department of Transportation, is also the only candidate running for his current position.
The Oct. 1 ballot will also have two propositions:
Prop. A would change the city charter to eliminate a requirement that candidates running for mayor or city council submit a nomination petition that has 20 signatures of registered voters. The city charter was approved by voters in 1963.
Prop. B would amend the city charter to change the time prescribed for the beginning of a council member’s term from the second regular Council meeting after their election, which is the meeting in which the election is certified, to the Monday following certification of the election.
[Read: Juneau Assembly election is four-for-four seats]
Voters have until Sept. 1 to register with the Division of Elections for the Oct. 1 municipal election. Absentee ballots will be available Sept. 16.
In the Oct. 2, 2018 Kenai municipal elections, the turnout was 27 percent. That election had a three-way contested city council seat and a school bond. With no bonds on the ballot and no contested seats, the turnout in Kenai may be “meh” for this cycle.
[Click here for the City of Kenai Election page at the City Clerk’s Office]
