A challenge to election procedures in the Mat-Su Borough has delayed the swearing-in of the apparent winner of one assembly race. If the challenge succeeds, the outcome of the race could change. KTNA’s Phillip Manning has more:
Candidate Doyle Holmes, who finished thirty-three votes behind opponent Randall Kowalke for the Mat-Su Borough’s District 7 assembly seat, has challenged the counting procedure for the ballots from Talkeetna.
On election day earlier this month, the vote-counting machine in Talkeetna malfunctioned. The ballots were taken to Houston and counted there by the borough and Houston municipal clerks. Holmes’ challenge says the ballots were then re-sealed and have not been reviewed. He says that is a significant departure from regular procedure.
“No one has ever looked at those ballots, OK, and without the machine being monitored in Talkeetna like it should have, the deviation from the accepted procedures. The Canvass Board never opened them up and looked at them.”
Mat-Su Borough code states that sealed ballot containers should be delivered by two people from the precinct to the clerk’s office for processing. In this case, Doyle Holmes says one person had sole custody of the ballots. That code section also says, however, that the borough clerk can provide different instructions. Holmes says he is not accusing anyone of manipulating the votes, but that they should be examined.
“We’re not alleging anything. We’re just questioning the process, and we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again and that those ballots are actually opened and taken a look at.”
Doyle Holmes also says that the disparity in votes between himself and Randall Kowalke is very different in Talkeetna as compared to the rest of the borough. Kowalke received 135 votes to Holmes’ 51, whereas Holmes won all but one other precinct. Those numbers are very similar to the vote tally in Talkeetna in 2009, when Vern Halter beat Holmes by nearly a three-to-one margin in the precinct.
Kowalke says there probably should have been more than one person in charge of the ballots, but that he doesn’t suspect any foul play.
“It would have been better if there would have been two. Beyond that, does it prove criminal wrongdoing and all the other malfeasance that would be necessary to cause that election to be voided, or that portion of the election? I don’t have any confidence in the fact that this thing will proceed very far.”
Doyle Holmes says that if prohibited practices did take place, that Talkeetna’s votes should be excluded. If that were to happen, he would be the winner of the election.
Regardless of the outcome, he says that provisions should be made in the event that a machine breaks down in the future.
”I think the borough assembly is going to have to look at changing some procedures. There’s nothing in the code that addresses a broken machine.”
Randall Kowalke says he will continue to prepare to represent District 7 on the assembly.
“Is this pleasant? No. Does it feel like Christmas morning when you found a lump of coal in your sock? Yes, but that’s…that’s kind of where we’re at.”
The assembly has set a deadline of next Tuesday for the investigation. Borough Attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos says that, if no wrongdoing is found, that certification and Kowalke’s swearing-in could occur on that day.
An investigation hearing has been scheduled for Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in Palmer.
