Sarah, Keegan, and Delilah Cordova at the voting booth in Port Alexander. (Photo courtesy of Molly Kimzey)
Along with Sitka, smaller cities from around the region went to the polls on Tuesday (10-4-16) to elect or reelect residents to the Mayor’s office, the City Council, and seats on the School Board.
Pelican was the first to report its unofficial results. Walt Weller walked away with 29 votes over the 15 that went to Patricia Phillips for Mayor.
Pelican’s City Council had three open seats on its ballot. Michael Allard got 35 votes, Chuck Keizer 31, and 12 votes went to Anthony Heiber. The top two candidates will serve three-year terms, while the candidate with the third highest number of votes will serve a two-year term.
The School Board in Pelican had two open seats. Linda S. Allard received 35 votes for the two-year term seat #3, while Kelly Chapman collected 30 votes for the three-year term seat #5. Both Allard and Chapman received more than 25 votes over the other names on the ballot.
There were 25 absentee ballots issued to Pelican residents, which are expected to be counted by Friday (10-7-16).
Voters in Port Alexander were tasked with filling in an empty ballot with up to seven names for seats on the City Council. Nearly 20 different names were offered up by voters, but ultimately residents chose to reelect Ryan Martin, Cory Gifford, Ryan Mulligan, Debra Gifford, James Lange, Tom Corso, and Bud Durdle to Port Alexander’s City Council.
Tenakee Springs was also voting to fill its City Council. Three spots were up for the taking and Linda “Lena” J. Sorenson received 25 votes and Carlene Allred and Stephen W. Lewis both tallied up 22 votes.
In Angoon, Edward Jack earned 67 votes for City Council seat A, while Maxine Thompson earned 46 votes for seat B. Opponent Albert Howard fell behind her by a small margin, with 45 votes.
Voters in Angoon also voted to fill seats on the School Board. Marcie Kookesh ran unopposed for seat A, Chenera Johnson received a majority of votes for seat B, Jeannette Kookesh was elected to seat C, Jared Williams to seat D, and Crystal Parkin was elected to seat E.
Two seats were open on Kake’s City Council and School Board. Scott Jackson and Marla Howard were elected to the City Council and Michele Friday and Rudy Bean will fill the two School Board seats. Kake residents also voted to increase the sales tax on cigarettes and alcohol from 5% to 8%.
The city of Yakutat will host the city and borough election on October 18.
