Communities around Sitka elected new members to their city councils and school boards. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo
UPDATED 1:50 PM, OCTOBER 4th, 2018
Residents of Kake, Pelican, Port Alexander, Angoon and Tenakee Springs voted on Tuesday, October 2. They voted in races for seats on city council and local school boards that are too close to call. Official results won’t be known until absentee ballots are counted.
In Port Alexander, no one was officially in the running before the election but seven one-year seats were filled via write-in votes. Laura Pollard was elected with 24 votes followed by Ryan Martin with 19, Tommy Corso with 18, Cory Gifford with 17, Debra Gifford and Ryan Mulligan, both with 16 votes, and Jamie Cordova with 12 votes.
Four people were elected to the Pelican City Council, as well. Patricia Phillips and Sandra Quinn were both reelected to the council with 28 and 22 votes, respectively. Jamison A. Mork also won a seat with 30 votes and so did Celeste Weller with 28 votes.
However, 10 absentee ballots and two question ballots still have to be counted in the Pelican City Council race before results are made official. That could swing results in favor of other candidates like Kelly Carbone. She trails behinds Sandra Quinn by only four votes.
Sandra Quinn also won a three-year seat in the Pelican School Board with 29 votes. Patricia Phillips won a two-year seat on the board with 34 votes and Amber Anselm was elected to a one-year seat with 29 votes.
Residents of Kake elected Lloyd Davis as mayor with 96 votes and elected vice mayor Paulette Jackson and now-former mayor Christine Bitter man to the city council with 98 and 77 votes, respectively. Stuart Mach and Isabel Mills were elected to the Kake School Board with 105 and 88 votes, respectively. All candidates ran uncontested in this race.
In Tenakee Springs, Judy MacDonald was the only winner who was officially in the running for a seat on the city council. She was elected with 28 votes. Another two seats went to Jaxon Chase-Collins and Uriah Strong, both with 8 write-in votes. But another 20 absentee ballots have to be counted in Tenakee Springs. Tim Rivera is behind Uriah Strong by one vote. Carlene Carr and Dan Kennedy each earned five write-in votes.
As of press time, Raven News did not yet have election returns from Angoon. Yakutat is also holding an election this fall for mayor, assembly and the Yakutat School Board. Voting there will take place on Tuesday, October 16.
