Houston election stalled, clerk to report on Tuesday

HOUSTON -- The Houston city council election was still on hold Wednesday due to an election challenge filed by incumbent council member Michael Markiel four days after the election.

Houston had five city council seats up for grabs this year and four of the races ended up with wafer-thin margins after the first count of the ballots.

Markiel filed a contest of election with the city clerk after rumors started circulating around town that the council's opposition candidates were buying an election-day drink for people who wore a sticker that said "I have voted" into the bar at the Houston Lodge. The lodge is owned by the family of opposition candidate Carl Burnett.

Burnett has denied the allegations, saying the lodge isn't in the business of giving away drinks.

In the week after the election, workers at the bar in the Houston Lodge programmed an electronic sign with crawling text to read "free beer tomorrow." Burnett, a partner in the family-owned lodge, said the sign was reprogrammed as a joke, and offered the punch line.

"Just wait until tomorrow, and it'll be today. Tomorrow never comes," Burnett said.

Markiel's decision to contest the election doesn't appear to be pointed at Burnett -- Burnett was not Markiel's opponent. Burnett was in the race for Seat F, and beat incumbent Kim Kasper 87 to 81. Kasper currently serves as Houston's mayor, a position whose occupant is appointed by the council from its own ranks.

Markiel was just one vote behind challenger Cliff Moore when he filed a notice with the clerk's office that he was contesting the election. The current city council was scheduled to certify the election on Monday, but the meeting adjourned after city clerk Daleann Pond informed the council of Markiel's challenge.

Because the spread between Markiel and Moore is less than 2 percent of the vote, Houston city code and state election laws allow Markiel a free recount. But Markiel hasn't asked for a recount -- he is contesting the entire election.

Pond told the Frontiersman she was conducting an investigation of the election and said Houston city attorney Richard Deuser, who works on retainer and has a private practice in Wasilla, will assist her. Pond said she couldn't comment on the investigation to the public or the council.

"Mr. Deuser is assisting me with this investigation and that's about as much as I can say about it," Pond said. "I'm doing most of the legwork myself in order to be fiscally responsible."

City code, however, states candidates and the public "shall be allowed to attend all investigation and recounting proceedings."

Pond said she expected to announce her findings at a council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 16, if she's finished with the investigation.

Houston's election code spells out procedures for contesting the election, and includes the form Markiel filled out. The sections on contesting an election require the clerk and attorney to perform the investigation.

Houston code allows the council to postpone certification for such an investigation, but limits to three the number of times certification can be postponed.

Houston code doesn't specifically address whether giving a drink to a person simply for voting is legal.

Voting incentives are addressed in Alaska's criminal code, however. State law says a person could be found guilty of a Class C felony for providing money or other incentives to a person for voting-- but the law also makes "food and refreshments" exempt when "directed at encouraging persons to vote."