City Clerks to oversee ballot counting processes after Election Day

MAT-SU — When polls close in local elections on Tuesday night, the work will begin for local municipal clerks and the canvass boards charged with counting the votes. Following Tuesday’s Election Day in Houston, Palmer and Wasilla, election officials will sort through questioned, absentee, special needs and personal representative ballots as well as early in-person ballots prior to the official vote count by canvass boards on Friday, October 8. Following the release of the final tally of votes for candidates in each election, special meetings are scheduled for each council on October 11 to certify the results of the elections.

“They’ll convene Wednesday and they’re going to start to review the provisional ballots that were cast at the election,” said Wasilla Clerk Jamie Newman. “When I talk about a provisional ballot it’s any ballot that went into a ballot envelope. So it’s early in person, it’s special needs, it’s questioned, and it’s absentee by mail so they will, in a nutshell they’re going to review every one of those ballot envelopes to make sure that the voter was qualified to vote. They’re going to make sure that the ballot was properly cast by reviewing the envelope, because depending on the envelope, there’s certain things that have to be filled out and they’re going to also verify that the voter didn’t vote more than once in the election. So once they’ve made that determination, they put the envelopes into, they segregate the envelopes; counts and no counts so they probably will be done with that on Wednesday.”

Newman serves as the Clerk for Wasilla and Sonya Pevan has served as the clerk in Houston for 11 years working to ensure the safety and security of 13 different elections. The city of Palmer hired former Wasilla clerk Kristie Smithers as the Clerk Designee without a Clerk on staff.

“Because we are as second class city, the council will meet at a special meeting on October 11, Monday at 6 p.m. That is to review the results, certify the election, and also on that day because we are a second class city, the council amongst themselves, so the new sitting council will elect their Mayor and Deputy Mayor,” said Pevan.

The selection by sitting council members of a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor will only take place in Houston. In Wasilla, the candidate who receives the most votes in Seat A and Seat B will win the seat and in Palmer, the two candidates receiving the highest vote totals will each earn a three-year seat on the council. Pevan said that the eight candidates running for three council seats in Houston is the highest number of candidates that she has ever witnessed. Pevan also said that a high number of by-mail ballots have been requested this year.

“I can tell you it is higher than we have seen in previous years, so we have had a good voter turnout for early in person. Of course you saw our candidates, that is the largest amount of candidates I have ever seen,” said Pevan.

Each city will post the early unofficial results of the election on their website on Tuesday night that will include the number of absentee, early in person, special needs, personal representative and questioned ballots still waiting to be counted. Results posted on Tuesday night could change upon the meeting of the Canvass Board on Friday to compile the final tally of ballots for each candidate.

“All of those provisional ballots, you’re going to know the numbers. Then the city council certifies the results, they are scheduled to on the 11th and then the newly elected folks take office at the next regular council, folks at the next regular meeting which is the 25th and they assume their seats upon taking their oath of office,” said Newman.

For city clerks, Election Day and the ensuing ballot counting processes are among the most stressful and exciting aspects of their jobs.

“I get a lot of proudness. I would have to say this is as you said, this is my most stressful time of year but this is also the time of year when I just feel the most proud that I can help our local citizens and the election process,” said Pevan. “It’s a good feeling. It’s a great process and I’m proud to be part of it.”

Clerks oversee the hiring and training of election officials who are tasked with ensuring the accuracy of ballot counting and integrity of each ballot.

“They are an absolute cornerstone of our democracy and it starts with the election administrators like myself. You have the different independent boards that come in, so that’s your check and balances and then the voters have their part, they need to come in and actually cast a ballot and then we have to do our due diligence to make sure that any of the provisional ballots, that the voter was qualified to vote in the election, that the ballot was properly cast and that they did not cast more than one ballot,” said Newman. “I can’t even stress enough how seriously I take that and it’s such an honor and it’s a privilege and the sanctity of the ballot box, I take it so seriously.”