MEA election deadline near

PALMER — The Matanuska Electric Association’s annual election is heading into its homestretch and the deadline for ballots looms.

Ballots must be received by mail by 5 p.m., Monday. Members can also vote at the annual meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Raven Hall.

The election includes three candidates running for two seats.

Challenger is former board member and retired businessman, Bill Folsom, who is taking on incumbents Janet Kincaid, a Palmer-area businesswoman and hotelier, and Peter Burchell, a retired educator with an alternative school named for him.

There’s also a raft of changes to MEA’s bylaws to do things as varied as clear up language that seems to require incoming board members to fail a drug test to invigorating MEA’s charitable Round Up program by making participating the default rather than something members have to opt into.