Polls close, votes come in

UPDATED 11:41 a.m., October 7.

MAT-SU — On an election day that began with foggy skies across the Mat-Su, it was fitting that little had cleared up as the midnight hour approached in the race most people were trying to watch.

With the borough reporting results from all of its 41 precincts, challenger Vern Halter appeared on his way to a narrow victory over incumbent mayor Larry DeVilbiss. According to results posted at matsu.gov/elections, Halter had 4,269 votes compared to the 4,090 harvested by DeVilbiss. Third-place Rosemary Vavrin picked up 317.

A retired attorney and magistrate who now owns a sled dog kennel in Willow, Halter's strongest precinct was Talkeetna, where he outpolled the Palmer-area farmer and current mayor 153-39.

The results are still unofficial; borough officials must still tally more than 2,000 absentee, questioned and special needs votes during a certification process that could take a week.

Tuesday night's vote count was plenty dramatic. At 9:52 p.m., borough public information officer Patty Sullivan sent an email to media saying a voting machine in Talkeetna had malfunctioned and that results from that precinct would not be posted until around midnight. Sullivan provided no immediate details about the malfunction, but did say no votes were compromised.

At that point, Halter led by 65 votes. When Talkeetna finally reported in at around 11:20 p.m., Halter had padded his lead by 114 votes courtesy of his Susitna Valley neighbors.

Sullivan said there are still as many as 2,314 absentee, special needs and questioned ballots to be tallied. The canvass board will begin meeting tomorrow at 10 a.m. and its work finalizing the results could take at least a week, she said. The election won't become official until it's certified at the Oct. 20 assembly meeting.

Other races weren't as dramatic Tuesday night, as two late write-in campaigns for school board were soundly defeated. Sacha Pettitt and Mike Coons had hoped to unseat Debby Retherford and Sarah Welton, but each fell several thousand votes short. Another issue that appeared well settled was a proposition to have school board members represent individual assembly districts, which garnered better than 2-to-1 support.

A borough proposition that would have moved the borough election from October to November was failing by a 4,642-3,877 margin.

Wasilla appeared to be on its way to lowering the city sales tax, as a proposal to keep a 3 percent tax originally approved by voters to fund a new library was trailing 350-257. If the measure fails, the sales tax will revert to 2 percent inside city limits.

In the race for Seat B on the Wasilla City Council, challenger Tim Burney led incumbent Alvah "Clark" Buswell 304-176. Yet to be counted in Wasilla were 119 early, questioned, absentee and special needs ballots, according to results on the city's election site.

In the three borough assembly seat races, George McKee led Maria Serrano 535-418 and Barb Doty led Bob Doyle 597-466. The closest assembly race was in Willow, where Doyle Holmes led Randall Kowalke 827-775.

Along with apparent wins by incumbents Retherford and Welton on the school board, Kelsey Trimmer led Wade Long 3,649-3,303 for Seat E.

In Palmer, voters appeared to be sending a rebuke to relaxed state marijuana laws, with a measure to outlaw retail sales and other marijuana-related businesses in the city passing by a 318-266 margin in unofficial results released on the city's website.

The closest race on Tuesday night was for the Palmer City Council. Pete LaFrance had the most votes with 315, but Kenni Linden and Richard Best were tied for second with 140. That's crucial because the top two vote-getters earn spots on the council. Palmer still has 129 ballots left to count.

In Houston, a mere 15 votes separated three candidates for city council. Chris Johnson led Alma Hartley and Dawnita Brunswick with 75 votes. Brunswick trailed Johnson with 67 votes, and Hartley netted 60 votes.

Houston turnout also led all municipalities in turnout with 23 percent, though isolated precincts in the borough recorded turnout rates over 30 percent. Results there had been posted about 9 p.m.

CORRECTION: This article has been changed to reflect the correct vote totals for the Palmer City Council candidates.

This article has also been changed to reflect totals for the city of Houston were posted about 9 p.m.