With Tuesday’s votes tallied, both the Mat-Su Borough Mayor and District 7 assembly races are close enough that nobody is admitting defeat or claiming certain victory at this point. More than 2,000 absentee and questioned ballots remain to be counted, so everyone is in a holding pattern for at least the next few days. KTNA’s Phillip Manning reached out to those candidates, and has this report:
After Tuesday, Doyle Holmes leads the race for the District 7 seat on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. Holmes, a three-time member of the assembly, says he has faith that the borough staff will conduct a fair count of the remaining ballots.
“I have a lot of faith in Lonnie [McKechnie], the borough clerk, and their procedures, because I’ve been involved in those things over the years. And [they have] tried to make sure that everybody gets treated fairly, and there’s no new ways of getting around the election results.”
Randall Kowalke, Holmes’ opponent, was picking up campaign signs when reached for comment on Wednesday. Kowalke needs the absentee ballots to break significantly his way in order to overcome Holmes’ fifty-two-vote advantage. If he does win, Kowalke says the credit goes to the precinct that helped him close what looked to be a wide gap as early results came in.
“If I win this, it’s going to be because of Talkeetna…I was 136 votes down when I went to bed last night, and got up and [am down] fifty-two this morning.”
Doyle Holmes also acknowledged how heavily Talkeetna leaned toward his opponent, and says he is “shocked” by how lopsided the votes were against him. Still, he heads into the next phase of counting with the lead thanks in large part to a strong showing in Willow.
In the mayoral race, Talkeetna’s votes shifted things as well, taking challenger Vern Halter from a sixty-five vote lead to a 179 vote advantage over incumbent Larry DeVilbiss. Just as DeVilbiss’ home turf of Lazy Mountain and Butte broke in his direction, Halter’s advantage came largely from the Upper Valley.
“The whole Upper Valley really went strong for me, but particularly Talkeetna. It was fun. We were waiting and waiting, and we were pretty sure Talkeetna was going to be pretty solid, but to see those numbers…it was…it made me feel really good I guess is what I’m trying to say.”
Halter acknowledges that there is still a lot of counting to be done, but he is optimistic at this point. He says he will have a lot of decisions to make if he is confirmed as the winner later this month.
“…Who the deputy mayor is going to be, and things about the planning commission, the boards, things like that, but I can’t really do anything like that until we know what the numbers are and know that it’s a done deal.”
Larry DeVilbiss’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but social media posts by the campaign state that DeVilbiss remains cautiously optimistic. The campaign’s Facebook page also mentions that it is looking into forming a watch-team for the ballot counting process.
Current results are considered both unofficial and preliminary. There is not currently an estimated date of completion for the counting of absentee and questioned ballots. Certification of the election will take place at the October 20th meeting of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.
