Halter wins mayor's race in dramatic final count

WASILLA — According to figures released Monday, Vern Halter has won the race for Mat-Su Borough Mayor. After a final tally was made by borough officials on Monday, Halter had 5,422 votes to incumbent Larry DeVilbiss' 4,971. Rosemary Vavrin received 407 votes.

On the borough assembly, Randall Kowalke beat Doyle Holmes by just 33 votes. Holmes held an 827-775 lead for the District 7 seat immediately after the Oct. 6 election, but Kowalke pulled ahead after absentee and questioned ballots were added to the count to claim a 979-946 victory.

The men waged a sometimes-contentious campaign to replace Halter on the assembly. The campaign was made messier than most by the fact that Kowalke had previously filed a lawsuit against Holmes that was eventually settled out of court.

Holmes also filed a challenge to this year's election counting process, which the borough's Canvass Board rejected on Oct. 17. In its letter explaining the rejection, the board said Holmes' challenge "does not pertain to any voter being not qualified, disqualified, or having voted in the same election."

Other results remained unchanged from their initial counts. George McKee defeated Maria Serrano 699-505 in the race for Assembly Seat 3 and Barb Doty downed Bob Doyle 757-581 for Seat 6.

On the school board, incumbents Sarah Welton and Debby Retherford easily held off write-in challenges, winning their seats back by more than 6,000 votes each, while Kelsey Trimmer defeated Wade Long 4,680-3,969 for the board's lone contested seat.

The final count conducted Monday showed 10,946 out of 64,571 registered Mat-Su voters cast votes, putting the turnout at 16.95 percent. The strongest turnout was in Halter's home district of Willow, where 31.65 percent of voters showed up; the lowest was the Wasilla Lake precinct, with just 7.37 percent.

Seven of the borough's 41 precincts reported votes from fewer than one in 10 registered voters including Wasilla Lake, Meadow Lakes No. 4 (7.47), Schrock (8.11), Foothills (8.13 percent), Knik Goose Bay No. 1 (8.52), Knik Goose Bay No. 2 (8.93), and Trunk (9.81).

The results will remain unofficial until they're certified at tomorrow night's (Tuesday, Oct. 20) meeting of the borough assembly.

To view the complete final results, click here.

This is a developing story; check back for updates.