Election Day

MAT-SU — If you’ve been living under a rock for the past three months and have managed to avoid the endless mailers, phone calls, and television, print and online ads, you should probably know that today is election day.

If you don’t know where your polling place is, (hint: If you live near an elementary school, senior center or municipal office, there’s a good chance that’s it) there are a couple of resources to help.

Calling the state’s Division of Elections at 1-888-383-8683 and entering your voter identification or Social Security number will return a polling place in a matter of seconds. The Division of Elections also posts a list of polling places online at elections.alaska.gov/vi_w_p_list_poll.php.

The ballot will include state and federal races but, for most Valley residents, the federal and governor’s races are the only interesting ones. State Reps. Wes Keller (R-Wasilla), Mark Neuman (R-Willow) and Carl Gatto (R-Palmer), as well as state Sen. Charlie Huggins (R-Mat-Su) do not have opponents in this election.

The only contested races this go-round are on the edges of the Valley. Republican Bill Stoltze faces Democrat Bonnie Nelson for what most consider to be the Chugiak seat, which also includes the Butte. On the northeastern edge of the Valley, Republican Eric Feige of Chickaloon faces Democrat Valdez Mayor Bert Cottle for the district usually referred to as the Valdez district, but which also includes Chickaloon and Sutton.

Of course, most eyes this election season have been trained on the race for U.S. Senate in which incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski, having lost the primary, is seeking election as a write-in candidate.

She joins 150 other people officially registered as write-in candidates — likely due to the urging of an Anchorage talk radio entertainer and a Sarah Palin-backed website.

Local Niki Taysom is among the official write-in candidates, but she says she’s asked that her name be removed from the published list in objection to the entertainers’ stunt.

As far as names actually on the ballot, the Republican primary victor and the origin of much of the heat in this race, Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, is there, as is former Sitka mayor Scott McAdams, Libertarian Frederick “David” Haase, and unaffiliated candidates Tim Carter of Girdwood and Ted Gianoutsos of Anchorage. The ballot also has the race for U.S. House, in which incumbent Republican Don Young is facing Democratic state legislator Harry Crawford.

And then there’s the governor’s race, in which candidates for governor run alongside lieutenant governor candidates. The names on the ballot there are Democrats Ethan Berkowitz and Diane Benson, Republicans Sean Parnell and Mead Treadwell, Libertarians William “Billy” Toien and Jeffery Brown and Alaskan Independence Party candidate Donald Wright, who has no running mate.

The ballot also asks voters three questions:

• Should the state sell $600 million in bonds that will be repaid through low-cost mortgages offered to veterans?

• Should the state sell $397 million to build museum, library, university, scientific facilities and a few rural schools?

• Should we increase the size of the state Legislature by adding two senators and four representatives?

And, finally, there is a long list of judges seeking retention. State Supreme Court Justice Dana Fabe and State Appeals Court Justice David Mannheimer are statewide judges.

Judges at the Palmer courthouse up for retention this year are: Superior Court judges Kari Kristiansen, Eric Smith and Vanessa White and District Court judges John Wolfe and William Estelle.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.