Results from Oct. 2, 2017 municipal and borough elections in Alaska:
This story will be updated as information is available. Presumed winners of races are listed below but these results are unofficial while absentee ballots and questioned ballots are counted:
BETHEL: Mitchell Forbes, Thor Williams, and Naim Shabani for City Council. Voters approved Prop 1, to raise the sales tax on alcohol from 12 percent to 15 percent, and allocate 20 percent of the revenue generated to fund Bethel’s health, public safety, and social services programs..
DILLINGHAM: Two seats on the Council, and three seats on the School Board. Emily Hulett is running against Kim Williams for Seat A; Patty Buholm faced no opposition for seat C. Seat B had no candidate.
FAIRBANKS CITY: Council – Cleworth for Seat E; Pruhs for Seat F; Prop A-No to a marijuana establishment ban; Prop B-No to higher property taxes;
FAIRBANKS BOROUGH: Assembly – Quist for Seat D; Major for Seat E; Lowjewski for Seat H; Rice for School Board Seat F; Dominique for School Board Seat G; Wilbur for IGU at large; Rice for IGU Seat D. Marijuana establishment ban fails 9488 to 4080.
HOMER: Caroline Venuti and Rachel Lord for City Council.
JUNEAU: Rob Edwardson ousted Debbie White for Assembly. Jesse Kiehl and Maria Gladziszewski retained their seats. Short, Holst for School Board. Prop 1, extending the 1-cent extra sales tax passed. Prop 2, allowing the city to consider things other than low bids when awarding contracts, passed. 27.3 percent turnout.
KENAI CITY: Henry Knackstedt and Tim Navarre for City Council.
KENAI BOROUGH: Charlie Pierce and Linda Hutchings will be in a runoff for Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor; Norm Blakeley, Brent Hibbert, Hal Smalley, Kelly Cooper and Kenn Carpenter for Assembly. School Board – Jason Tauriainen won over Board President Joe Arness, to represent the Nikiski and Tyonek area.
Penny Vadla of Soldotna, Debbie Cary of Central, Mke ILLG of Homer for Borough Board of Education.
Prop 1, to ban marijuana establishments outside city limits, failed. Prop 2, to borrow funds for repairs of the borough administration building, failed. Prop 3, raising the cap on taxable sales from $500 to $1,000, failed.
KETCHIKAN CITY: Kiffer and Flora for City Council. The proposed ban on ridesharing (Uber, Lyft) failed.
KETCHIKAN BOROUGH: Pickerell, Bailey, and Pierce for Assembly; Brown, Thompson and Gubatayo for Board of Education; Prop 1 special sales tax on marijuana passed, for outside city limits (city has one already). Ketchikan had an over 21 percent voter turnout.
MAT-SU BOROUGH: Ted Leonard and Clayton Tew for Assembly; Ole Larson, Kelsey Trimmer for School Board; Prop B, 3 percent area sales tax for Talkeetna, passed. Mat-Su had a 9.19 percent turnout.
(UPDATE – OCT. 13: Absentee votes show Tew trailing Mayfield by 18 votes.)
NOME:
NORTH POLE: Council – Aino Welch; Sharon Hedding
NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH: The Accuvote machine in Nuiqsuit was broken, results may vary. UPDATED: Harry Brower for Mayor – this looks like it will be a runoff between Harry Brower and Frederick Brower; Alzred Steve Oomittuck for Assembly Seat A-1; Doreen Ahgeak Lampe for Assembly Seat A-3B; Mary Patkotak for Assembly Seat A-3D; Herman Ashoak, Assembly Seat 3-E,; Vernon Edwardsen, Assembly Seat A-3F; Martha Tokrook, Asssembly Seat A-F; Jerry Sikvayugak, Assembly Seat A-6.
PALMER: Sabrena Combs and Brad Hansen for City Council.
PETERSBURG: Mark Jensen for Mayor; Jeff Meucci and Brandi Marohl for Assembly. Flouride ban failed. ATVs will still be banned on city streets, as that question failed. Incrase in the sales tax cap defeated. Limiting a sales tax exemption for non residents buying goods and services for use outside of Petersburg passed. Voter turnout was 43 percent.
SEWARD: David Squires for Mayor; Sue McClure, Jeremy Horn, Suzanne Towsley for City Council
SITKA: Richard Wein, Steven Eisenbeisz, Ben Miyasato for Assembly; Dionne Brady-Howard and Elias Erickson for Board of Education.
SOLDOTNA: Nels Anderson for mayor; City Council – Tyson Cox for Seat B; Keith Baxter for Seat F.
TALKEETNA: Prop B, 3 percent area sales tax for Talkeetna, passed.
WASILLA: Bert Cottle re-elected for Mayor, [City of Wasilla sales tax result: ?]
WRANGELL: Stephen Prysunka for Assembly; Jessica Rooney for School Board; David Wilson (83 votes) or Robert Rang (82 votes) for School Board.
I was bummed because I went out to vote and no one was at my normal polling place. It really sucked because I didn’t know there was a change…I work in Anchorage all day and then had an appointment immediately after work. I figured I’d stop on my way home. Nope, no one there. So, I didn’t get to vote. Perhaps if there is a change in polling places, the voters in that district should be notified?
The MSB had several very confusing advertisements in the Frontiersman; they used State Districts instead of MSB Districts to identify precincts. The Voter Pamphlet had the information; but not everyone received one. If you used 5 search variations (as I had to) you might have found it on the web site; there was no 2017 Election Information link on the MSB Home page. All-in-all it appeared to be a deliberate effort to obscure voting opportunities in comparison to their efforts over the past 8 years.
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