Ballot error skews vote

Wasilla City Council seats wrong 'winner'

July 29, 2005

DARRELL L. BREESE\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The Wasilla City Council filled a vacancy Monday night, but the right candidate may not have been appointed to the seat.

Verdie Bowen was sworn into office Monday after the council appeared to have selected him to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Noel Lowe last month. It marked the second time Bowen has been tapped to complete a term on the council.

A day later, though, confusion and controversy erupted over how the ballots were scored.

With four candidates to choose from to replace Noel Lowe, who resigned last month, the five remaining councilors were instructed to rate applicants in order of preference, first through fourth, in a process known as the Borda system. In secret balloting, four points were awarded for each first-place vote, three for second, two for third and one for fourth.

After tallying the scores, City Clerk Kristie Smithers announced that Bowen was the winner, having apparently been rated first among the applicants by four of the five members of the council, and fourth by the other member. His score of 17 points was five ahead of runner-up Marty Metiva.

A later examination of the ballots by the Frontiersman showed that council member and mayor hopeful Diana Straub had marked her ballot incorrectly. After putting the candidates in the order she wanted them at the bottom of her ballot, with Metiva first and Bowen fourth, she put the corresponding point value in the blanks where she should have put her order of preference. So the ballot, in effect, was scored backward to her intent.

"This is incredibly embarrassing," Straub said Tuesday. "I can't believe that I marked it wrong. Marty (Metiva) was my first choice to fill the vacancy," she continued. "I even told someone after the meeting that I ranked him first."

If the ballots were corrected to reflect Straub's intended vote, Bowen, who totaled 17 points in the original results, would see his total drop to 14 points. Metiva, who had 12 points, would have 15 and the council vacancy.

"I wrote my selection next to each position of the point chart at the bottom of the ballot to make my selection clear," Straub said. "There shouldn't have been any confusion as to what I intended. The clerk has seen my handwriting enough to have known it was my ballot, and could have asked if there was any confusion."

But Smithers said she only looked at the numbers when tallying the votes, under the eye of councilors Mark Ewing and Rob Sande. She said Monday's vote marked the third time the council has used the process to determine who would fill a vacancy on the council.

It was last used in 2004, with Straub participating, when Bowen was selected to fill the vacancy left by Colleen Sullivan-Leonard. Before that, it was used when Straub was appointed to the council in 2002.

Straub said Tuesday she would discuss the matter with the clerk and determine what can be done to remedy the error.

"I would like to think that my intention will be honored and things can be corrected," she said.

But on Wednesday, Mayor Dianne M. Keller said city attorney Tom Klinkner ruled, according to Robert's Rules of Order, that the decision could not be reversed because Bowen had been sworn in Monday night.

Smithers said the only way a change could be made now is if Bowen resigns.

Metiva, who is planning to be on the Oct. 4 municipal ballot for a council seat, said he does not intend to appeal the decision. Bowen, who lost in the general election after being appointed to the council last year, indicated that he wanted to hear from the city's attorney and see how the council would want to act on the issue before he responded.

"I would happily be part of the process again. If it was me and I didn't clearly win, I would say let's correct the problem and ask to repeat the process. If the council, Verdie or Mayor Keller believes we should go through this again, I will be more than happy to participate again. If Verdie were all for it, I would do it again."

Straub expressed regret at her misunderstanding of the ballot.

"It was my mistake," she said. "I feel bad for Marty (Metiva). He is the one having to pay for my error."

Straub said there would have been no confusion if the council had voted in public, rather than anonymously, by secret ballot.

"This all could have been avoided if the vote would have been open," she said.

Ewing agreed that the voting should not have been by secret ballot.

"The public should have access to how each of us voted," he said. "This was a public meeting, after all."

Keller said she has no opinion on secret balloting, other than to say it's a council decision.

"They used a process that's in place, and it's up to them to follow it (or change it)," she said.

Looking ahead, Straub said she planned to introduce legislation that will clarify the process in the future.

"I will put together the needed ordinances that will explain the process in detail and implement a 72-hour waiting period before the appointed council member is sworn in, to allow for an appeals process, like we have with regular elections," she said.

Metiva said that if the current council doesn't take action to address the problems, they will occur again next time there is a vacancy on the council.

"The good thing is the voters will get to see how we (the council) deal with a difficult situation," Straub said. "They will see how we work at finding a solution. Thank goodness it is only a two-month term and not a two-year appointment."

Contact Darrell Breese at

352-2267 or darrell.breese@

frontiersman.com.