ELECTION UPDATE: Final tally for Palmer Mayor shows Jim Cooper in lead

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - Almost two dozen municipalities and boroughs across Alaska are holding local elections Tuesday, Oct. 7, asking voters to decide on who will govern them and which propositions on the ballot should pass.

Seven cities and boroughs have a mayoral election; those include the cities of Palmer, Fairbanks, Kenai, Nome, the town of Utqiagvik, the Municipality of Skagway and the boroughs of Kodiak Island and Ketchikan Gateway.

In addition to the mayoral races, dozens of city council and assembly seats are up for grabs from the Aleutians to the North Slope.

Multiple propositions in various boroughs are also on the ballot.

A full breakdown of each of the municipal ballots across the state can be found here.

5:45 p.m. Friday: Unofficial results show Jim Cooper leading Palmer mayor’s race

After the Palmer Canvass Board counted non-election day ballots on Friday, former Mayor Jim Cooper leads with few ballots left to be counted.

Cooper holds 277 total votes, followed by John Alcantra in second with 151, Josh Tudor with 105, Victoria Hudson with 58, Cachet Garret with 16 and one write-in vote.

It’s Cooper’s second time in the position, after previously serving as Palmer mayor in the early 2000s.

Results will be certified at the Special Council meeting on Oct. 13, according to the results page.

2:30 p.m. Wednesday: Unofficial mayoral results in Palmer, Kenai, Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Several candidates appear to be in the lead in mayoral races across the state, though none of these elections have been certified.

In the five-way Palmer mayoral race, former Mayor and current city councilor Jim Cooper currently leads the race with 157 votes, according to unofficial election results. He’s one of four city councilors running for the position. John Alcantra runs in second with 103 votes, Josh Tudor in third with 56 and Victoria Hudson in fourth with 39. The only non-member of the city council, Cachet Garrett, is in last with 7 votes.

367 votes have been counted, a little under 60% of the total ballots in the race, according to unofficial election results. There are still 261 votes that have not been tabulated, which consist of early, absentee by-mail, questioned or special needs ballots.

In the city of Kenai, former vice Mayor Henry Knackstedt currently leads with 461 votes to city council Alexander Douthit’s 326, according to unofficial results. There were 6 write-in votes.

The results say 804 ballots cast, but the data does not appear to include absentee or questioned votes yet, nor explicitly say how many absentee/questioned votes were cast.

Unofficial results from The Ketchikan Gateway Borough shows that assembly member Austin Otos leads with 1,135 votes to Jaimie Palmer, also an assembly member’s, 865. 8 voted for a write-in candidate.

The data does not make clear how many of the 2,458 ballots have or have not been counted in the race yet. 2,008 votes have been counted in the mayoral election.

11:00 p.m. Tuesday: City of Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs concedes race to competitor

Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs has conceded his race for reelection to challenger Mindy O’Neall, who currently serves as Presiding Officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly.

“The race is over. Mindy O’Neall won. A few votes yet to be counted, but I’m down 250 votes. The voters have spoken. I ran a good race. So did Mindy,” Pruhs told Alaska’s News Source.

Wishing congratulations to O’Neall, Pruhs attributed the results of the race to low voter turnout and what he called his opponent’s Democratic Party backing.

O’Neall said she was surprised by the concession, and was happy to hear the results.

“I just have a full heart of community at this point,” she said, saying the results came as a result of a strong get-out-the-vote effort and a strong slate of candidates.

8:00 p.m. Tuesday: Polling locations around the state begin to close

Polling locations around the state are beginning to close and the unofficial results of the election are being tabulated.

The Alaska Division of Elections says that polling places are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Several races run uncontested, or without any named candidates on the ballot opposing them, though that does not automatically mean that candidates running unopposed will win their race.

In Skagway, Orion Hanson is the only candidate running for mayor. Skagway election laws say, “In a municipal election, the candidate receiving the most votes for a particular office shall be declared the winner.”

Tuesday: Fairbanks preliminary results

Preliminary results for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, City of Fairbanks, and City of North Pole are in, with 29 of 35 precincts reporting as of Tuesday evening.

• Borough Assembly Seat B:
  • Brett Rotermund leads with 9,305 votes, while write-in candidates have combined for 2,984 votes.
• Borough Assembly Seat C:
  • Garrett Armstrong leads with 6,525 votes followed by J.T. McComas-Roe with 4,823, and Jeanne Olson with 2,900.
• Borough Assembly Seat I:
  • Patrich Roach leads with 8,127 votes to Barbara Haney‘s 6,233
• School Board Seat C:
  • Audra Hull leads with 7,389 votes, while Chemetria (Sam) Spencer has 6,497.
• School Board Seat D:
  • Naomi Hewitt holds a narrow edge with 7,035 votes over Meliss Burnett’s 6,889.
• Fairbanks City Mayor:
  • Mindy O’Neal leads with 1,784 votes, ahead of David Pruhs, who has 1,517. Incumbent Pruhs tells Alaska’s News Source he is conceding the race to O’Neal.
• Fairbanks City Council Seat C:
  • Sue Sprinkle leads with 1,839 votes to Hannah Exalook’s 1,348
• Fairbanks City Council Seat D:
  • Crystal Tidwell leads with 2,645 votes over 173 write-ins
• North Pole City Council:
  • The top vote getters so far are Judah Schuster with 134, Sandra Rolfe with 129, and David Brandt with 120

14,563 total ballots have been counted from the FNSB area, 3,327 from the City of Fairbanks, and 247 from the City of North Pole. Officials note that these numbers remain unofficial until all precincts and questioned ballots are tallied.

Tuesday: Kodiak preliminary results

The Kodiak Island Borough posted its first set of unofficial results Tuesday night. According to the borough, the rest of the ballots will be canvassed on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

• Borough Mayor
  • Jared Griffin leads with 984 votes, ahead of Scott Arndt who currently has 832

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com