Official election results are in for the wild and flawed April 3 election -- which produced the largest turnout in at least 18 years. The new numbers changed no outcomes and huge spreads remain between most winners and losers, according to the municipal clerk's office.
In the most-watched contests, Mayor Dan Sullivan and Anchorage School District board candidate Natasha Von Imhof held onto their leads by blowout margins. Also failing substantially was Proposition 5, an ordinance that would have extended the municipality's equal-rights protections to gays, lesbians and transgender people.
Despite the big differences, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the election. The municipal assembly is considering hiring an independent investigator to review problems such as why 40 percent of the city's 121 precincts ran out of ballots at some point. One looming question is how many people didn't get the chance to vote because they ran out of time. Beginning Saturday, the Election Commission will hear from those who had trouble voting.
New results come after the Election Commission on Friday finished counting 13,434 absentee, questioned and by-mail ballots.
The two top vote-getters in the mayor's race were Dan Sullivan, who received 58.68 percent of the vote, or 40,871 ballots. Paul Honeman received 38.61 percent, or 26,896 votes. Four others also ran for the three-year term.
Proposition 5, calling for equal rights for gays, received 30,208 "Yes" votes, or 42.89 percent. It received 40,223 "No" votes, or 57.11 percent.
As for School Board Seat G, Von Imhof received 56.55 percent of the vote, or 31,621 votes. Marsett Starr received 42.38 percent, or 23,697 votes.
The full updated results will be available by clicking here.
The 71,099 ballots cast was the most in a city election since at least 1994, said Jacquelyn Duke, deputy municipal clerk. Another big turnout came in 2006, when 70,859 voters went to the polls in an election that put now-Sen. Mark Begich over Jack Frost for mayor.
Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, said it was too early to comment on the official results. The group, which gave $10,000 to support the Proposition 5 campaign, has repeatedly called for an independent investigation.
"The level of disenfranchisement is significant, and no one has committed significant resources to determining that number," Mittman said.
Municipal attorney Dennis Wheeler said at an assembly work session on April 13 that 17 people had emailed the city clerk's office to say they missed the chance to vote because of the shortages. But Mittman has argued the number could be much larger. That's something an investigator could attempt to determine, he said.
Assembly Chairman Ernie Hall said expects to appoint that investigator by the middle of next week, according to a statement from the clerk's office. The investigator will be asked to weigh in on the opinion of municipal attorney Dennis Wheeler, who said six days after the election that he did not think the ballot shortage would invalidate the election.
Up next is a special meeting Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Wilda Marston Theater in the Loussac Library that will give the Election Commission a chance to conduct one-on-one interviews with people who had trouble voting during the election or election workers who experienced ballots shortages, finicky voting machines or other problems.
The meeting will continue Monday in room 830 at City Hall from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the same City Hall room, the Election Commission is expected to adopt the election results and report on their interviews to the assembly. Certification of the election by the assembly is scheduled for May 3 at 5 p.m.
Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com