No change in final borough tally

PALMER — Three Mat-Su Borough races that had been too close to call since election night Oct. 1 seem to have been settled Friday.

After the Mat-Su Borough Canvass Board met Friday to tabulate remaining absentee/special needs and question ballots, two assembly races and a school board race that had just dozens of votes separating the candidates saw leads widen ever so slightly.

The net result of it all — two new assembly members and two new school board members.

Newcomers Doug Glenn and Jim Sykes competed for the privilege of serving the residents of District 1 on the assembly. In the end, just 69 votes delivered the win for Sykes, who received 1,112 votes to Glenn’s 1,043.

In the District 2 race, challenger Matthew Beck retained his narrow lead to snatch the seat from incumbent Noel Woods. Beck’s winning margin was even slimmer — just 61 votes — with Woods receiving 810 votes to Beck’s 871.

“I’d rather win by 61 votes than lose, but it was close,” Beck said.

He chalked up the narrow vote to the relative closeness of his beliefs to those of Woods. Whatever the reason, he said that he’s eager to get to work.

“I am. I’m excited to work with the local people and some local issues. People have already talked to me about several different things ranging from sidewalks to swimming pools to road projects, park projects,” he said.

On the school board, Donna Dearman of Talkeetna hung on to claim Seat F in a four-way race that saw her separated from the nearest candidate, incumbent Neal Lacy, by 195 votes out of nearly 10,000 cast.

“I am very excited. In fact, I have already been doing my homework. The administrative assistant to the school board sent out the packets already, so I’ve been doing my homework and the reading for the school board meeting on Wednesday night,” said Dearman, a lifelong educator.

She said the next week includes meetings with school administrators and her swearing in before that Wednesday meeting. It also includes a lot of miles on her car — Dearman hails from Talkeetna and estimates her roundtrip commute at 180 miles.

“It is what it is. It is worth it,” she said.

Elsewhere on the school board, Ray Michaelson bested incumbent David Cheezem for Seat G. Dearman won with 2,889 votes. Michaelson earned 5,183 votes to Cheezem’s 4,391 votes.

Proposition 1, which would have increased the tax on alcohol sold in the borough, failed by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. It received 7,276 no votes and 4,205 yes votes.

And Proposition 2 passed by a similar margin, earning 6,641 yes votes and 4,622 no votes.

The results now include absentee/special needs and question ballot totals. The election is set for certification at 5 p.m., Oct. 15 in the new assembly chambers at the Mat-Su Borough Building in Palmer.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com. Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.