School bond and levy narrowly trail in Anchorage election as officials continue to count ballots – Anchorage Daily News

The Anchorage School District ballot propositions are narrowly trailing in support after additional votes were counted Thursday by Anchorage election officials, and the Anchorage Assembly race for District 4 Midtown has narrowed.
Preliminary results released Thursday show 49.9% of Anchorage residents voting no (27,023 votes) and 48.7% voting yes (26,333 votes) on Proposition 1, the $79 million school bond. Just 690 votes separate the two totals.
The margin for the one-time special education levy is 756 votes. According to Thursday’s tally, 50% of voters are opposing the one-time education levy (27,080 votes) while 48.7% have voted yes (26,324) on Proposition 9.
Both Propositions 1 and 9 were within a single percentage point as initial results were posted Tuesday night, but since then additional ballots have increased the lead for no votes in each of the district’s funding requests to Anchorage property taxpayers.
Other municipal bonds on the ballot are anticipated to pass, as margins are greater than the number of votes left to be counted in most cases. The list includes capital improvements for road and drainage; renovations at Loussac Library; 16 projects at municipal parks and recreation sites; and investments for the city’s public safety and transit fleets. A bond for about $350,000 in upgrades to Anchorage police facilities is narrowly failing.
Election officials had tallied 54,106 ballots as of Thursday night, which represented nearly 23% of the city’s roughly 235,400 registered voters.
Election administrator Liz Edwards said the municipality has received 64,319 ballots as of Thursday afternoon, with about 2,000 more to process Friday. Staff will continue to sort through mail-in votes and ballots that need signature checks up to the April 23 deadline. In non-mayoral elections, the city typically receives between 60,000 to 65,000 ballots.
Election officials will process the bulk of the remaining ballots over the course of the week with plans to post updates before 6:30 p.m. each day.
The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to certify election results April 28.
Early returns show incumbents aligned with Mayor Suzanne LaFrance continuing to hold the lead in Anchorage Assembly races, even with the departure of Chair Christopher Constant and member Felix Rivera. As more ballots are counted, the race for Rivera’s seat in District 4 remains close.
First-time candidate Sydney Scout continues to hold a lead in the race to represent downtown Anchorage in District 1, with 55.2% of the vote. Among opponents, Justin Milette received 31.8% of votes cast while Nick Danger and Max Powers had 5.3% and 3.6%, respectively.
In District 2, engineer Donald Handeland received 55.3% of the vote to represent the Eagle River, Chugiak and Peters Creek areas over opponent Kyle Walker’s 40.9%.
District 3 incumbent Anna Brawley has received 53.3% of the vote in West Anchorage, while challenger Brian Flynn had 44.1% of votes in early returns.
Just 21 votes separate the top two candidates for the District 4 Midtown seat. Dave Donley remains slightly ahead of opponent Janice Park. Donley has received 46.5% of votes, at 3,918 votes, compared to Park’s 46.3% with 3,897 votes. Kim Winston has received 3.6% of votes.
East Anchorage incumbent George Martinez has 56% of the vote in District 5. Cody Anderson, a pastor at a prominent local church, has received 40.5% of the vote.
Incumbent Zac Johnson held on to a lead in early results for District 6, which covers South Anchorage, Girdwood and Turnagain Arm, with 46.4% of the vote. Challengers Bruce Vergason and Janelle Anausuk Sharp had received 39.2% and 11.5% of the vote, respectively, according to Thursday results.
Anchorage School Board candidates Rachel Blakeslee and Paul McDonogh continued to hold their leads Thursday in the races for seats C and D.
Blakeslee holds 53.8% of votes in the race for Seat C over opponent Alexander Rosales, who had 38.3%, according to Thursday’s unofficial results.
McDonogh held on to 46.5% of the vote for Seat D. Opponents Sharon Gibbons and Dustin Thomas House Darden had received 30.8% and 13.9% of the vote, respectively.
Daily News reporter Bella Biondini contributed to this report.
Tim Rockey is a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News focusing on education and general assignments. He has worked in journalism in Alaska for more than a decade, including at Alaska Public Media, Alaska’s News Source and the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Contact him at trockey@adn.com.
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