Just four votes separate the leaders: Dan Saddler, who has worked for three Republican governors, and lawyer Bill Cook. Both are Eagle River residents seeking to represent House District 18 in the Legislature. After all absentees were counted, Saddler is leading with 415 votes to 411 for Cook. Former Anchorage Assembly member Dan Kendall is trailing with 332 votes.
State elections officials plan to begin the recount at 11 a.m. today in Juneau. Saddler was certified as the winner on Sept. 8, and five days later Cook asked for the recount. Because the race is within 20 votes, the recount will be done at no cost to Cook, said Gail Fenumiai, director of the Division of Elections.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Martin Lindeke in the general election.
Both Saddler and Cook said they will have observers monitoring the process though neither will be there. Vote counts sometimes change slightly in recounts, usually because the voter marked the ballot so faintly, Fenumiai said. In a recount, the vote tallying machines are calibrated to spit out ballots that aren't completely filled out, plus the observers have an opportunity to inspect every ballot and make sure it is counted as it goes through, she said. The machine figures are double checked against a hand count of ballots in one precinct, she said.
Voter turnout in the district, which includes Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base, was less than16 percent for the primary, much lower than in most of the state. In the Elmendorf precinct, fewer than 5 percent of the voters turned out, and in the Fort Rich precinct, the turnout was even lower, 3.6 percent. But in Fire Lake, turnout was close to 33 percent.
The candidates knocked on a lot of doors, but the contest was mainly low key. Saddler, a first-time candidate, led the race for campaign money, with about $19,000 in contributions, counting about $6,000 that he put into the campaign. House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, and Eagle River Rep. Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River, were among his contributors. Cook took in about $6,600 counting some of his own money. But Cook was bolstered by the endorsement of Alaska Right to Life.
The House seat was vacated by Nancy Dahlstrom, who took a post in the Parnell administration that she later resigned from after questions arose about how and when it was created.
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