The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted last week to allow Mayoral,
Assembly, and School Board candidates to declare a political party. Voters will see the candidate affiliations on November 2024 ballots.
In what had been a non-partisan local government for 60 years, the majority of Assembly members voted to share their political leanings with the public. Though candidates aren’t required to declare a party, Assemblymember McKee says it helps voters decide who to support.
“It simply informs the voter what are my chances with this person versus this person and that’s all it is to me. And since it’s completely optional, I kind of think this, if you don’t declare it, what are you hiding?”
Since the creation of the Mat-Su Borough, the Mayor, Assembly, and School Board have focused on issues such as roads, schools, and facilities for residents without partisan declaration. Some residents expressed concern that this could create divisions on issues that have not been partisan to date.
Though Assemblymember Yundt proposed an amendment before the meeting that would allow voters to decide the issue at the November election, he did not move it forward.
Assemblymember Nowers then proposed an amendment allowing voters to decide the issue. Her amendment also included language that would change the Borough code to remove the statement that elections would be non-partisan.
“Just to speak to putting this before the voters, again we’ve had this in place for 60 years so multiple, multiple assemblies. And we would be the only muni in the state to do this. I think this is something that deserves to be decided on by the residents of this Borough if they want to have our elections be partisan, that’s up to them. But it’s not up to seven people who were elected at one time to decide that. It’s a bigger issue.”
Assemblymember Hale spoke in defense of Nowers’ amendment and opposed the idea of introducing party affiliation at all.
“Local elections are supposed to be non-partisan. There is nothing partisan about roads and schools and fire trucks.”
Though ballots will provide an option for candidates to declare a party, Borough code will still state that elections shall remain non-partisan.
